The Nighttime Terror of Academy City
by Falneou17
Summary: After a time of peace, a new enemy emerges. An enemy with a fearsome, never before seen ability that takes Academy City by storm. Misaka Mikoto and her friends are quick to jump into action to put an end to this, but will they stand a chance? Or will they succumb to this mysterious foe like many others did before them? Canon-divergent. Set after the Silent Party arc.
1. Prologue

**So this is my first _real_ Railgun fanfic; I did two or three oneshots a little while back, but this is my first shot at a multi-chapter for this franchise. This story has already been completed, as it was my NaNoWriMo novel for 2017, and as such will be uploaded at a consistent biweekly update schedule every other Tuesday.**

 **The cover image is that one scene in the "Real Force" animation sequence.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. Nor do I, in any way, shape, or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

Academy City. A city located somewhere in Japan with a population of over two million, eighty percent of which are students. People from all over the world come to this city that has over a twenty-year gap in technological advances than any other city for one purpose and one purpose only: to learn to become an esper and further hone their skills as an esper.

But this city holds a dark secret deep within; one that is only known by a select few of the population. In the everlasting quest to create stronger and stronger espers, the higher ups in the city aren't above making a handful of sacrifices along the way. A quest that has affected everyone in the city to some extent, whether they were even aware of this or not.

And one person had played a central role in trying to end the suffering in the city. Someone who pushed herself beyond her limits time and time again to set things right. To make a change for the better that the city truly and desperately needed.

This person's name is…

"Misaka-san?"

Startled out of her train of thoughts, Misaka Mikoto looked around her to see the source of the voice that had called her name. It didn't take her too long to do so, and she relaxed when she found her close friend right beside her.

"Sorry, you looked a bit out of it," Saten Ruiko smiled apologetically before going back to digging through her purse in an effort to look for something. Mikoto looked on with curiosity, silently wondering what her friend was doing this time; despite having known each other for several weeks already, Mikoto still had difficulties reading her friend more often than not.

It was a beautiful day today, the sun shining high above in the sky managing to keep everybody warm but not too much so. Mikoto had been unsure as to how to spend this day in the morning when she woke up, but Ruiko had come over and invited her for a walk through the city. Mikoto, who didn't have any plans for the day anyway, had agreed almost immediately after Ruiko had offered the idea to her.

Not too long after leaving Tokiwadai and the pair had found this recently opened café that, upon Ruiko's insistent urging, the two of them decided to try it out. The interior of the café was decorated nicely, giving off a warm autumn-ish feel with it through the brown furniture and decorations; normally resulting in a very dull atmosphere but this café managed to make it work.

While waiting for Ruiko to find whatever it is that she was looking for, Mikoto took a moment to read through the menu's options one more time. She thought that she had her order already decided, but the choices were all so enticing. From the diverse choice of cakes to the different types of drinks, Mikoto had trouble choosing which to get.

"Finally!" Ruiko's shout of triumph brought Mikoto back to reality, urging the third-strongest esper in the city to turn to see what Ruiko was holding. Unfortunately for Mikoto, Ruiko was holding it in such a way that nobody could see what it was, Mikoto included.

"Um, Saten-san? What is that?" Mikoto asked carefully, pointing at Ruiko's hands as the words left her mouth. She tried to come over as aloof and casual, but everybody in the café who was even only paying a little attention to them could easily tell that Mikoto was dying to know.

"Febrie called me the other day to tell me that she and Janie are doing great," Ruiko smiled, managing to hide the pang of sadness in her heart from mentioning the name of her friend. As she opened her hands to reveal what was in it, she added, "Oh, and she sent me this. Isn't this the cutest?"

In Ruiko's open palm lay her phone, but it was obvious to Mikoto that it was what was on the phone's screen that mattered. Leaning forward, Mikoto could see a picture showing a very crude drawing of two short, blonde girls smiling brightly in front a big building.

Seeing this picture was enough to put a smile on Mikoto's face as well.

"I-It sure is…" Mikoto managed to mutter softly, her mind drifting to another place entirely; to the time when they had to take care of the two Chemicaloids and, of course, to the fight unlike any other to protect Academy City only days after first meeting Febrie.

"How long has it been again?" Mikoto wondered out loud as she tried to recall, but she didn't come too far as her mind was drawing a blank here. Mikoto saw Ruiko take her phone in her hands again and look at it while fingers flew across the screen, probably to try and check the date.

"About two weeks," Ruiko mumbled softly, sounding slightly shocked herself, "That's weird… it sure felt a lot longer, wouldn't you agree, Misaka-san?"

Unfortunately, Ruiko would never find out what Mikoto's answer was as it was at that moment that the waitress came by. A girl with pure white hair that she had tied in two sets of braids draping over her shoulders stood there with a smile and wearing a brown top and a pastel-colored skirt. She couldn't be a lot older than either Mikoto or Ruiko from the way she looked.

"Welcome, you good lassies! What would you like me to whip up for you two today?" the waitress said in a high and very energetic tone, but it was what she said that caught both Mikoto and Ruiko off-guard. It took a while for the waitress to realize why she was getting such weird stares from the two, but when the waitress eventually did she apologized profusely, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I did it again!"

"I-It's okay…" Ruiko chuckled softly, clearly amused at the waitress' way of greeting them. After a brief period of silence, Ruiko tried again, "Uh… may we order now?"

"Ah yes, of course!" the waitress said hurriedly, fumbling around to get her tablet out before turning to the two seated friends, "So, what will it be?"

"A honey lemon cheesecake…" Ruiko trailed off as she scanned the other side of the menu. Her gaze lingered on a specific point on the card and she shrugged, "And a lime soda for me. What about you, Misaka-san?"

"Make it two of both, please," Mikoto said simply as she took the menu from Ruiko's hands and returned it back to its rightful place, ignoring the look that she was getting from her friend entirely.

"So that will be two honey lemon cheesecakes and two lime sodas, right?" the waitress repeated, looking at both Mikoto and Ruiko for confirmation of their order. When both girls nodded, the waitress smiled and bowed, "All right, please wait for a little while and we'll bring your orders to you in a bit."

Mikoto and Ruiko waited until the waitress had left and was taking the orders from a different table before they started talking again.

"She was… interesting…" Ruiko chuckled softly as she looked over Mikoto's shoulder to try and watch the eccentric waitress a bit more. When she left her field of vision, Ruiko sighed dejectedly before turning to her friend again, "So, Misaka-san… a lime soda?"

"I-It's fine, right?" Mikoto asked defensively, missing the amused look on Ruiko's face in her effort to maintain her public image. Quickly, but a lot weaker, Mikoto added, "Besides, I already had six cups of coffee this morning, so I don't think having any more would be a good idea."

"That many?" Ruiko breathed out, partly in shock and partly in amazement, "I mean, I don't have a say in what you order. It's just that I didn't quite see you as the soda drinking type, Misaka-san."

A distinct memory flashed through Mikoto's head, demanding all of her willpower to keep a straight face as she avoided eye contact with Ruiko. As Mikoto pushed the memory of the vending machine incident that happened not too long ago away, the two of them fell into a comfortable silence.

Mikoto was about to open her mouth to try and break the silence when Ruiko had stood up abruptly, startling Mikoto in the process.

"Uiharu! Shirai-san! Over here!" Ruiko waved excitedly to something behind Mikoto. When Mikoto finally turned around to look, she found out that Ruiko was right when Mikoto saw two exhausted Judgment members slowly walking to where they were.

Once they reached the table that Mikoto and Ruiko were sitting at, it didn't take long for the two girls from Judgment to join them. Kuroko plopped down very unladylike by Mikoto's side with a loud groan while Kazari slumped down beside Ruiko, equally as gracious as Kuroko if not more so. The uniforms of both girls were muddied and covered in the dirt and the armband of Kazari, Ruiko noticed when Kazari reached for the menu card, was slightly ripped.

"Rough day today?" Mikoto asked sympathetically to Kuroko while Ruiko was going over the different options on the café's menu with Kazari.

"You don't say, Onee-sama… Uiharu and I are tasked with the clean-up after our battle with STUDY Corporation several weeks ago," Kuroko sighed, propping her head on the top of her arms as she looked into the distance with an empty look in her eyes. With an exasperated intake of air, Kuroko added, "It was straight up torture… we are only now starting to make some progress, but we still have a long way to go."

"Wait, everything?!" Ruiko exclaimed, having heard what Kuroko had said and looking frantically between Kuroko and Kazari for an answer, "Isn't that too much? I mean, it wasn't really your fault that they attacked, right?"

"While that is true, it is our responsibility to make sure our district is in working order," Kazari said in a serious tone before Kuroko could, the teleporter only nodding in confirmation before resting her forehead on her arms. When she saw that Ruiko was about to open her mouth again, Kazari quickly added, "I know what you want to say, Saten-san, and no, we can't. The other branches in this district are all busy with their own problems, so we have to get things back to working order by ourselves."

"Thank you for that extra bit of information but that wasn't what I was going to say," Ruiko chuckled as she motioned towards the menu, "Since I think our waitress is coming our way right now, I wanted to ask if you already know what you're getting ."

The other three girls looked up in time to see that Ruiko was right: the white-haired girl who took Mikoto's and Ruiko's orders earlier was standing by their table with a full tray in her hands.

"Sorry for the wait; two honey lemon cheesecakes and two lemon sodas," the waitress smiled as she gently placed the items in front of Mikoto and Ruiko. Tucking the tray under her arm and taking out her tablet again, she turned to the two newcomers with a bright smile, "And I see that your friends have arrived now, too. Have you already decided on what you wanted to order?"

"I will take what they had, please," Kuroko said, motioning towards the orders of Mikoto and Ruiko before resting her forehead on her arms again. As the waitress took note of what Kuroko had said, Mikoto couldn't help but wonder whether Kuroko really wanted these, just wanted to be the same, or was too lazy to look through the menu herself.

"And I will, uh… um… what should I get?" Kazari wondered out loud as she looked between the menu to her friends to the waitress and back to the menu again. After a few seconds had passed and Kazari still couldn't make up her mind, she turned to the waitress with an embarrassed smile, "Is there anything that you recommend?"

"Hm… let's see…" the waitress trailed off as she folded her arms in thought, seemingly unfazed at the question as if she were used to hearing it, "We have a lot of different types of cakes if you are interested in those. From more traditionally normal cakes like the cheesecake that your friends ordered to more exotic ones like the chocolate and red velvet one. We also have other kinds of sweets, the plate of ginger cookies being my favorite."

As the waitress continued listing the café's specialties one by one, Kazari's eyes drifted towards one specific word on the menu card. Ruiko, who was sitting by Kazari's side, had to cover her mouth with both hands to keep her composure when she, too, saw what Kazari was looking at.

"I'll take a large strawberry parfait, please!" Kazari announced, shamelessly cutting into the waitress' words before turning back to the menu. With a shrug, she added, "Yeah, just a large strawberry parfait for me."

"Thank you for your order, please wait a moment until your orders are ready," the waitress bowed before excusing herself away from the group in a hurry. Both Mikoto and Ruiko noted the slightly disappointed look on her face, but neither could bring it up before she had left.

Kuroko and Kazari slumped down once again almost immediately after the waitress had left them and they didn't need to keep up their front anymore. This left the four of them in a somewhat tense silence that neither Mikoto nor Ruiko knew how to break.

With no way to get a conversation going, Mikoto and Ruiko accepted this air to be the condition in which they would spend their afternoon in and started to take little bites of their cakes. As they all remained silent, the tension between them all only grew over time.

It was only a matter of time until somebody snapped…

"Oh, come on!"

Three pairs of eyes turned to look at the source of the voice that exclaimed those three words, waiting silently and with bated breath to find out what was going.

"This is the first time that we've been able to sit down together for a long time, and you're all acting like this?!" Ruiko exclaimed in an exasperated voice before pointing directly at both Kazari and Kuroko, "Misaka-san and I both know that you two are busy with the Judgment work that you two have to do, but can't we all at least have some fun when you two are finally off duty?"

"Saten-san…"

As Ruiko slowly but surely realized what she was doing, and apologized for speaking so bluntly and out of turn, the other three girls fell into a silence. This one, unlike the previous one that Ruiko had just broken, wasn't a heavy one; instead, it somehow felt warm and accepting.

The silence was eventually broken, but not by someone from their table.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" a cheerful voice said as a brown-haired girl came to their table with a tray that was covered almost completely by Kazari's parfait. While she looked to be significantly shorter than the other waitress who had been serving them up until that point, she didn't seem much older than the previous waitress. When the brunette saw Kazari's wide eyes, she giggled before placing the enormous glass in front of her, "I think it is safe to assume that the parfait is for you, miss?"

"Yes, thank you very much!" Kazari cheered gleefully as she pulled her treat closer to her. Even though Kazari was still seated, making her a lot shorter than she actually was, the large parfait still managed to completely block her view of Kuroko who was sitting on the other side of the table.

"And since she didn't ask for either of the remaining orders, does that mean that they are for you?" the brown-haired waitress smiled, directing the question to Kuroko. When Kuroko nodded in confirmation, the waitress carefully placed Kuroko's order in front of them before bowing, "I hope you enjoy your orders."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking…" Ruiko trailed off, catching not just the waitress' attention but also of Mikoto and Kuroko, "Where did the other waitress go? I can't see her anymore."

"Oh, she already went home, her shift ended two minutes ago," the reply came with an apologetic smile. When she saw Ruiko visibly deflate, the waitress added quickly, "If there is anything you wanted to tell her, you can tell me and I'll pass the message on to her."

"Just tell her that we said 'thank you' and that we wish her a pleasant day," Ruiko said with a sigh before realizing her mistake. Hurriedly, Ruiko added, "Oh, and you too, of course."

"Thank you very much," the waitress bowed with a bright smile, taking her leave after bidding her farewell.

And, somehow, the waitress did the unthinkable; she managed to take away the dark and gloomy air that hung in the air around the four friends. Or maybe it was because Kuroko and Kazari finally had something to focus their attention on aside from their exhaustion.

"That was not the only thing that you wanted to tell her, was it, Saten-san?" Kuroko asked suddenly after a few moments had passed since the four of them were left alone again. When Ruiko looked at Kuroko with an expression of genuine shock and surprise, Kuroko decided to elaborate on what she had just said, "You always have this look in your eyes when you found something that you really wanted to talk about, like a spark or something. This time was no exception."

"Well… the truth is that I heard a rumor floating around the net the other day," Ruiko admitted sheepishly while scratching her cheek with her index finger. After a momentary pause that lasted several seconds, Ruiko continued, "But don't worry about it! It was just a rumor, so it really shouldn't be anything big."

"You say that…" Mikoto trailed off with an awkward smile, recalling some of the other 'urban legends' that her friend had brought up in the past. She shook her head to try and get rid of those thoughts when she felt a series of vibrations in her pocket, "Ah, I'm sorry. I'll be right back."

Unfortunately, Mikoto wasn't the only one to have received a call that demanded her immediate attention.

"Shirai-san?" Ruiko looked up from her cake when Kuroko stood up after checking her own phone, "Judgment calls?"

"It would seem so, yeah…" Kuroko sighed, adjusting her Judgment armband as it had gotten askew while she was in the café. After putting some money on the table to cover her expenses, she turned to Kazari, "Uiharu, let's go. Konori-senpai will scold us if we are late again."

"B-But…" Kazari stammered, looking between the stern look on her partner's face to her barely eaten parfait and back again to Kuroko, "My parfait…"

"You will get your chance to eat another parfait, I am sure," Kuroko said as she grabbed Kazari by the upper arm and dragged her away from her parfait. Before leaving the café, Kuroko took one more moment to turn to Ruiko with an apologetic smile, "I am sorry, Saten-san… Both Uiharu and I would have liked to stay here longer, but duty calls. Tell Onee-sama when she returns that I am sorry we had to leave so suddenly."

It wasn't long until Kuroko started dragging a wailing Kazari away, but it did take her more time and effort than she would have wanted it to take to actually get her out of the café. Even after leaving the building, Kazari's cries for her parfait could still be heard inside.

While all of that was going on not too far from her, Ruiko was simply swirling her soda around with her straw in an effort to not have to watch her friends leave. If she was being truthful to herself, she knew that it wouldn't be long for everybody to go; even though Ruiko had hoped that it would have taken them a little bit longer to do so. Fortunately for Ruiko, she wouldn't be alone for long this time.

"Sorry about that," Mikoto apologized as she sat back down, taking a moment to look between the chairs previously occupied by Kuroko and Kazari and to the now gloomy Ruiko. It didn't take long for Mikoto to put the pieces together, "They had to go again?"

Ruiko nodded stiffly before letting out a groan of pent-up annoyance and irritation. As Mikoto gave her a sympathetic smile, Ruiko said, "It's just not fair… we finally are free, we finally don't have to deal with bad guys and Shirai-san and Uiharu still have Judgment work to do. Even during the weekends!"

"Kuroko and Uiharu-san both knew what they were getting into when they first joined Judgment," Mikoto tried to cheer Ruiko up and, from the looks of it was at least somewhat successful, "As their friends, we should be supporting them where we can. Right, Saten-san?"

"I guess you're right, Misaka-san…" Ruiko finally relented with a sigh, causing Mikoto to smile knowing that Ruiko would be feeling better now. That was when Ruiko remembered something, "Misaka-san, who was it that called you?"

"Uh, well… it was…" Mikoto stuttered, not knowing how to tell Ruiko. When she saw the look in Ruiko's eyes, Mikoto added with a sigh, "It was my sister. She wanted to see me so she asked me to come visit her later."

Ruiko had a blank look on her face for several seconds, almost as if she didn't quite hear what Mikoto had said, but then smiled when she remembered the… interesting… sister that Mikoto had.

Mikoto quickly ate the remainder of her cake, having noted that Ruiko had finished hers already, before turning to her friend, "I guess that is it for today. Sorry, Saten-san. Today didn't really turn out like we had hoped it would."

"That's okay," Ruiko tried to reassure the third-strongest esper of the city with a smile, though she had a feeling that Mikoto wasn't buying her façade. Instead, Ruiko tried again by adding, "Say hi to your sister for me—us, okay?"

Mikoto nodded in reassurance before getting back on her feet. With a quick goodbye, Mikoto also left the café after a short discussion of who was paying. A discussion that Ruiko quickly lost as Mikoto kept insisting to make up for how bad the day had turned out.

This left Ruiko all alone, something that she knew would happen again but wasn't expecting to have happened so soon.

"Miss? Is everything all right?" a warm yet careful voice asked Ruiko, causing Ruiko to look up to see the worried brown eyes of the brunette waitress that brought the orders of Kuroko and Kazari earlier. With a hesitant smile, she added, "You looked worried there for a second."

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Thank you for asking, though," Ruiko smiled, genuinely glad that the waitress cared so much about her and hoping that the waitress was being treated well by her friends and family.

"Oh, before you go," Ruiko called out to the girl who had already turned around and was about to walk off. Curious, the brunette waited for Ruiko to tell her why she had stopped her, which Ruiko finally did, "I have a favor to ask…"

* * *

About one hour had passed since leaving the café, and Ruiko found herself in front of her dorm room with a plastic bag containing the remainders of Kuroko's and Kazari's orders in hand. Ruiko let out a sigh, releasing the exhaustion from her body in one simple action before rummaging through her pockets for her keys.

Ruiko unlocked the door to the room, opened it gently with her foot and stepped in while taking off her shoes. After putting the bag on the table, Ruiko went straight to the curtains and opened them, basking the room in the bright and warm light of the afternoon sun.

Her room, despite being messier than it usually was as Ruiko had left fairly abruptly earlier, was still a lot cleaner than the room of the average student. Despite this, she still took a moment to tidy up at least a little bit.

It wasn't long until Ruiko was satisfied, all the books returned back to their rightful places and the bed made yet again. The floor was cleared of any random objects and a large trash bag that had been filled about halfway was placed right by the door.

"Now that all of that's done…" Ruiko trailed off, looking around her with a smile of satisfaction before her eyes landed on her computer. It didn't take very long for her mood to drop like a ton of bricks.

"I'm sorry, Shirai-san, I really couldn't tell you after all," Ruiko mumbled to herself as the computer booted up, the bright light of the screen casting half of Ruiko's face in the shadow of the other.

Ruiko felt bad about not telling her friends the truth, but even she wasn't sure if she would have believed those rumors herself if she were in her friends' shoes. Even so…

The computer finally loaded up, and it brought up the site that the twelve-year-old was skimming through the other day. A forum where people from all around the world could share urban legends with other people who were interested in learning more about them.

"Where was it…?" Ruiko thought out loud as her eyes scanned the screen for that one word that she had seen the last time she had checked this site. A part of her was starting to wonder whether she had imagined it or not, but it was at that moment when she finally found it again.

"'The unlikely pair between a bright brunette and an eccentric white-haired girl takes Academy City by storm'," Ruiko read as she scrolled through the post, "'These two girls, while seemingly only working together as a pair, have become one of the most popular cafés in their hometown. They have now built branches all around the world including, most recently, Academy City'."

Letting out a sigh of relief that she didn't just made it up and making a mental note to bring it up with her friends when she meets them again, Ruiko was about to shut down her computer again when she saw it.

Two words, written in big white letters at the top of the screen.

Ruiko's curiosity got the better of her and, before she knew what she was doing, she had already opened the link.

* * *

 **And that wraps today's chapter! I hope you all enjoyed what it had to offer, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time! Take care!**


	2. The Start of the Storm

**I'll admit I wasn't expecting too much when I posted the first chapter two weeks ago, but here we are! Thank you all for the support!**

 **Disclaimer's the same as the last time: I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun!**

* * *

After leaving Ruiko behind in the café a couple of hours ago, Mikoto found herself wandering around Academy City for a bit. It had been a while since she had the freedom to see the city without having to worry about somebody getting hurt, so she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

It was also a good opportunity for her to get her bearings right and remember what made this city so great; an opportunity that Mikoto didn't let go to waste.

As Mikoto wandered around the city, she was hit with wave after wave of nostalgia, reminding her how each place was special for her. From her first meeting with Kiyama Haruhi, to the place where she went to see the fireworks with her friends and, finally, to the huge shopping center, Seventh Mist, where she couldn't help but remember the graviton bombings.

Deciding that she might as well take a little bit of a detour while she was already here, Mikoto entered the shopping center. Much to her surprise, all of the damage done by the graviton bombs had been removed to the point that nobody could see marks of the attacks anywhere. The only reason why Mikoto was sure that it had happened was because she was there, but the members of Judgment and Anti-Skill sure made it difficult for her to not confuse memory for imagination.

"Kuroko and Uiharu-san sure worked hard here…." Mikoto thought out loud as she looked around her with a smile, making sure to remember to praise her friends for their efforts. Mikoto had gotten a can of juice and was sipping on it slowly when she felt it.

A freezing sensation ran down her spine, immobilizing her in the process as her body refused to move. Mikoto tried to sense her surroundings using her ability but soon came to the realization that she couldn't.

"No… this is…" Mikoto trailed off as she started to realize what was happening. It wasn't that she couldn't sense her surroundings but that it was being jammed somehow. But how could it—

"'It has been a while, Onee-sama,' greets Misaka as Misaka makes her presence known to her Onee-sama," a calm, monotonous voice came from behind Mikoto only moments before Mikoto felt her body returning to normal.

Mikoto would have recognized that voice anywhere, but even now she was pleasantly surprised to see who she thought she would see standing behind her.

"Was that you who did all of that?" Mikoto asked, a bit skeptically as she motioned towards the air around her before motioning to herself. When she saw the nod of confirmation, Mikoto smiled, "You've improved a lot."

"'Thank you, Onee-sama', Misaka says in response to show her gratitude while simultaneously covering her flustered self from view," Misaka 10032 thanked Mikoto but, true to her words, still covered her face after hearing the praise that she was given. Mikoto had to suppress a smile, realizing that her sisters were a lot more human-like than when she had last seen them.

That was, of course, until Misaka 10032 opened her mouth again.

"'It had been so long since Onee-sama came and spend time with Misaka'," Misaka 10032 deadpanned, almost glared at Mikoto who flinched slightly at the sudden change in the clone's mood, "Misaka whines as Misaka looks at Onee-sama while simultaneously wondering why Onee-sama hates Misaka so much."

"H-Hey, I don't hate you! It's just… been very busy lately…" Mikoto trailed off, trying hard to not look away so as to not be mistaken for trying to lie her way out of punishment.

Mikoto wasn't lying; a lot _had_ happened since she last saw Misaka 10032 in the hospital when Febrie was in there. Aside from the chemicaloid being brought to an overseas facility along with her sister Janie by Nunotaba, Mikoto had also offered her help in rebuilding the city after feeling guilty for the damage that she had done. And while she wasn't allowed to do as much as someone like Kuroko was, it still took a toll on Mikoto's body.

Then there was, of course, the classes that had resumed once again. While it was true that Mikoto was on the top of her classes, even the level five esper had difficulties with some of them; so much so that Kuroko had to drag Mikoto back to bed well past midnight on numerous occasions.

"Aside from showing me how much you've improved, was there any reason why you used your powers on me?" Mikoto asked, rubbing her arms gently to try and get rid of that tingling feeling. As it would seem, however, she would be stuck with it for a while, "Couldn't you have just come up to me and greeted me with a simple 'hello'?"

"'Unfortunately, that was not an option, Onee-sama', Misaka says in a strict way to try and make her point across," Misaka replied as she looked around for something. Mikoto, while following her sister's field of vision, did not see what it was that was being looked for.

"What are you looking for?" Mikoto asked, curious, as she stood by her sister's side to try and get a better look at where or what she was looking at. Unfortunately for Mikoto, she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Or, rather, she couldn't see anything that would cause Misaka 10032 to act this way.

Misaka 10032 remained silent, keeping Mikoto in the dark in the process as she kept looking around her. Right when Mikoto was about done waiting and wanted an answer now, Misaka 10032 finally responded. But not in the way that Mikoto had hoped or expected she would.

"'I cannot tell you here, we have to move, Onee-sama!' Misaka says in urgency to try and make Onee-sama move faster," Misaka 10032 said suddenly, grabbing Mikoto by the wrist and pulling her along with her with a surprising amount of strength, "Misaka's place is not far from here, we can go and talk there."

"W-What?" Mikoto managed to utter, but she knew that she wouldn't get an answer anytime soon. With Misaka 10032's vice-like grip on her, the two of them left Seventh Mist and were already making their way through alleyways that Mikoto was sure even Ruiko wouldn't know of not soon after.

All Mikoto could do was try and prevent herself from tripping, which proved to be more of a challenge than she thought considering the speed at which she was being dragged off with.

* * *

As Mikoto was having her own private little adventure with Misaka 10032, two other people stumbled into a room and plopped down almost simultaneously on the couch. It had been a long day for both girls, but they have both finally reached their limits and admitted that they needed to call it a day.

Kuroko couldn't care less how she would appear to others in the room. For the teleporter, all that mattered was feeling the soft couch support her and keep her up. Kuroko let out an almost inaudible content sigh of relief, but it did not go unheard for her partner.

Kazari smiled as she watched Kuroko's prone body, knowing that Kuroko had been pushing herself more than usual. And with Kazari already feeling as if her every part of her body was screaming for her to rest for the day, she could only imagine what Kuroko was going through.

The room that was used by the one-hundredth-and-seventy-seventh branch of Judgment looked exactly the same as always if a little bit messier than usual. What was surprising was that it was empty, but neither Kuroko nor Kazari paid too much attention to that fact. Both girls were prioritizing finally being able to rest.

"That was horrible…" Kuroko mumbled, her voice muffled as she was lying face-first on the couch. Even so, she continued talking as she knew that Kazari would be able to understand her, "To think that district twenty-two had _that_ many streets that needed patrol…"

"B-But, you did great out there today, Shirai-san!" Kazari tried to reassure her partner who only raised one hand to indicate that she had heard her and appreciated the praise. Having reassured Kuroko, Kazari then took a moment to think, "But it sure is strange to have that much public damage… what could have caused it?"

"Didn't Konori-senpai say something about there being an explosion of some sort two days ago?" Kuroko asked Kazari while raising her head and propping her chin on top of her arms. In doing so, she finally noticed the state that the room was in, and was quick to voice her thoughts, "Speaking of Konori-senpai, where is she? Shouldn't she be lecturing us about not working right about now?"

"What is this?" Kazari wondered out loud as she picked up a note on the table that their senior and leader always worked on. On it were eight very hastily-written words that Kazari read out loud for Kuroko to hear, "'Off to get dinner, be back at seven'. I guess that answers our question of where she is."

"So she just left?" Kuroko grumbled, annoyed at how the very person who kept scolding her and Kazari for lazing around had excused herself for so long. All Kazari could do was laugh awkwardly, but both girls knew that Kuroko wasn't the only one who felt annoyed by this.

"What should we do, Shirai-san? Should we call it a day too?" Kazari asked carefully, looking around for the clock that always seemed to be moving places in this messy room. When she finally located it, she saw to her surprise that it had already passed five in the afternoon.

Kazari was about to open her mouth again to say that they should probably head back home before curfew when a series of knocks on the door caught both hers and Kuroko's attention. What shocked both girls the most is that they couldn't think of anyone who would come knocking on the door at this time.

"Who could that be?" Kuroko wondered out loud as Kazari shrugged before taking the initiative to check on the door, knowing that she probably had more energy left than Kuroko.

What waited on the other side of the door was a big surprise for Kazari, albeit a familiar one.

"U…i…ha…ru!"

Kazari's shrill shriek of shock and embarrassment that followed caused Kuroko to jump back on her feet in a panic and rush forward to her partner, only to see who had caused that scream out of Kazari.

"Saten-san, you really should stop doing that…" Kuroko scolded lightly before feeling the sting in her legs again, forcing the shortest girl in the room to lay back down on the couch again, "One day, somebody will get hurt by your antics."

"Sorry sorry, but you both seemed so down and I wanted to try and cheer you up," Ruiko apologized quickly, clasping both hands together in a form of apology before turning to her closest friend, "No hard feelings, right Uiharu?"

"Sheesh, Saten-san, you _always_ do this!" Kazari grumbled angrily, walking back to the couch and taking her seat on it again. Kazari made sure to avoid eye contact with Ruiko as she crossed her hands in front of chest, "When will you stop with it?"

"That's why I said that I was sorry," Ruiko tried again with an exaggerated smile, but let both her hands and her smile fall when she noticed the atmosphere in the room. Worried, she asked, "What happened? Did something bad happen after you two left for Judgment duty today?"

"I guess you could say that…" Kuroko sighed as she sat up straight, noticing that Kazari wasn't responding to Ruiko's question for some reason, "It was just the usual cleanup duty, but it was in a different district and the area that we needed to cover was larger than we were used to."

"You people from Judgment sure have it rough…" Ruiko mused, maybe a bit too loudly so as her words were heard by everybody in the room. It didn't take long for Ruiko to recognize her mistake and, in an effort to try and lighten the mood, Ruiko rummaged through her bag, "Here. I got two extra cans of juice on my way here, they're on me."

"Saten-san…" Kazari turned to Ruiko with wide eyes before realizing Ruiko's true intentions. With a smile, she accepted both cans and gave one of them to Kuroko, "Thank you, Saten-san."

"To our friendship!" Ruiko cheered, raising her can and taking a sip of her drink as Kazari and Kuroko did the same. The three girls, now a lot more at ease, fell in a comfortable silence until Ruiko decided that she wanted to break it, "So with both Shirai-san and Uiharu here, does that mean that you are done with Judgment work today?"

"Until Konori-senpai comes along and tells us to go patrol district nineteen for all I know," Kuroko sighed, causing a light chuckle to escape both Ruiko's and Kazari's lips in the process. Sitting up straighter, she turned to Ruiko with a serious look, "But until then, I think that we are. Why? Did something happen while we were away?"

"Oh no, nothing _bad_ happened," Ruiko waved off her friends' concern as she was, once again, looking through her bag for something. As she was still searching, she added, "It's just that I heard about a new urban legend when I was looking through the net today and I wanted to hear your opinion about it."

"That again?" Kuroko asked, wondering why her friend was still bothering to look for stuff like that despite being a student in Academy City, "You know how those urban legends don't have any scientific basis to them, right?"

"That's not true! These urban legends all have been based around something that should be true," Ruiko rebutted immediately, startling Kuroko in the process. That was when Ruiko recalled something else.

"Also, remember when I brought up that stripper lady urban legend and soon after we all met Kiyama-sensei?" Ruiko continued, forcing a frown to form on Kuroko's face as she did, indeed, remember that. Kuroko still had nightmares of her first meeting with that woman, but Ruiko was obviously not done yet, "Misaka-san seemed to react funnily when she saw that urban legend about a guy whose ability made him immune to all other abilities, so there should be some truth to it, right?"

"And then there was… the level upper…" Kazari trailed off, obviously still uneasy at bringing that back up after all the damage that it had caused. Fortunately for Kazari, it was worth the pain as it did its job; Kuroko seemed a lot less eager to shrug Ruiko's urban legends off as mere stories anymore.

"What I'm trying to say is that we should at least listen to what Saten-san found," Kazari picked back up where she left off, directing her words to the teleporter who only nodded briskly in response. Satisfied, Kazari turned to her closest friend, "So, Saten-san, what was it?

"Well, it seemed like it was similar to that urban legend about the guy who was immune to the effects of all other abilities," Ruiko began, trying to remember the details of the urban legend as much as she could; something that proved to be quite a difficult task indeed, but Ruiko kept going, "Instead of being immune to the abilities of others, this person could somehow take them away?"

"Okay, sorry, Saten-san but _that_ is just ridiculous no matter how much you look at it," Kuroko exclaimed suddenly, stopping Ruiko from continuing her story. Kazari, while slightly perturbed by the fact that Kuroko had interrupted Ruiko, seemed to be sharing Kuroko's opinion, "I can accept that there is somebody who is immune to all abilities, especially after everything that we've been through since then. But for there to be somebody who can take them away… that just is not possible!"

"Sorry, Saten-san, but I think I have to agree with Shirai-san here," Kazari said with an apologetic gesture before frowning, "I have heard and can believe an ability that can temporarily neutralize the abilities of others, preventing them to be used. But I can't see how the ability in that rumor could even work."

"Right? That's what I was thinking too," Ruiko said, sounding surprisingly happy, despite the negative reactions from her friends. When Ruiko noticed the looks on the faces of Kuroko and Kazari, she deflated slightly before adding, "Did you both really think that I would get upset again that you didn't believe this urban legend?"

"Well, I mean… yes…" Kazari said carefully, trying to gauge what Ruiko's reaction was going to be as the words left her mouth. When she saw that Ruiko wasn't reacting negatively to it in any way, Kazari added, "It's just that we still don't know everything about our powers yet, so it would be weird to hear about somebody not being able to use their powers temporarily. And this urban legend was talking about them losing it _forever_."

"I know, but what _if_ that kind of person really exists?" Ruiko asked dramatically, looking between Kazari and Kuroko, "Wouldn't it be great to have him take away the powers of criminals so that even if they break away from prison, they won't be able to use their powers for evil anymore, right?"

"Even _if_ he exists, we can't do that, Saten-san," Kazari tried to reason with Ruiko, carefully choosing her words so she wouldn't accidentally set her friend off again, "All we can do is apprehend them, and only Anti-Skill can bring them in for interrogations. None of us have the right to take away the powers of somebody else, there are just too many legal problems with that."

"And what Uiharu was saying was assuming the best-case scenario of this situation," Kuroko said sternly, getting Ruiko's attention. The look on Kuroko's face could only mean something bad, and what she said next confirmed Ruiko's suspicions, "What if someone with that kind of ability does exist and is _not_ a good person? What if he uses his powers to take away the powers of innocent people? What then?"

"That…" Ruiko trailed off, looking away to try and avoid Kuroko's gaze while trying to think of a reply. But the truth was in plain sight. She didn't know what to say to respond to Kuroko's statement, and the thought alone of what would happen in Kuroko's scenario caused a shiver to run down Ruiko's spine.

"But, thankfully, we do not have to worry about that," Kuroko finished, putting her can down on the table to make a ringing sound reverberate through the room, "Because an esper like that does not exist, so nobody will have their powers taken away forcefully."

"Shirai-san is right…" Ruiko admitted with a sigh as she put her bag to the side and slouched down a bit in her seat. Then, sounding a bit defeated but somehow still quite energetic, she added, "But even so… Wouldn't it be amazing if he actually _did_ exist and could help reduce the crime rate in Academy City?"

"It would… but only if he is a good guy," Kazari said, reminding Ruiko to what Kuroko had just said. It was then when Kazari's eyes widened suddenly as she thought of something, "But what if…"

Kazari looked to Kuroko and, from the look on Kuroko's face, Kazari knew that Kuroko was thinking the same thing. The two girls shared eye contact for a moment before nodding simultaneously.

Ruiko was still off in fantasy land of what would happen if this urban legend turned out to be true, much like most of the other urban legends that she had found over the time that she had been here in Academy City, when she saw Kazari and Kuroko both stand up from their seats.

"What are you two doing?" Ruiko asked curiously and somewhat worried, watching as Uiharu walked out of view and Kuroko moved closer to Ruiko.

"Saten-san, do you know anything else about this urban legend?" Kuroko asked, suddenly more serious than Ruiko had ever seen her, "Like if people had physical traits for this person, or if there were any rumored locations where that guy was rumored to appear."

"B-But, didn't Shirai-san just say that someone having an ability like that would be impossible?" Ruiko stammered, confused at this sudden change in Kuroko's standpoint on the matter at hand. Kazari was busy doing her own things somewhere else in the room where Ruiko couldn't see her, so Ruiko knew that she was alone in this now.

"Saten-san, in the hypothetical situation that this urban legend _is_ real, as crazy as the urban legend is…" Kuroko trailed off, trying to find the right words to say what she wanted to say to Ruiko without offending her too much, "Do you understand what sort of panic it will cause in Academy City when people start losing their abilities? When they find out that someone like that actually exists?"

What Kuroko got wasn't a response to her question. No, something else entirely happened only a split second after the last word had left her mouth.

"Shirai-san! Saten-san! Come quick! Hurry!" Kazari shouted from the other side of the room in a panic, prompting both girls whose names were called to rush over to Kazari's side.

Kazari was sitting in front of a computer, having several windows open that displayed different kinds of articles, from scientific advances to spiritual beliefs. But it was obvious for both Ruiko and Kuroko which window Kazari wanted them to look at.

"This is…" Ruiko breathed out in horror as she let the words on the screen truly sink in.

"Shirai-san…" Kazari muttered softly, turning to her partner to wait for her response to this revelation, "That urban legend may not be as much of an urban legend as we thought it was."

"But… if this is what the urban legend is based on, it is not so bad," Kuroko said, trying to remain as calm as possible despite the shock of reading this article.

The article started with a picture of a group of scientists that the three girls could only assume were the scientists who created this new drug. A drug that, when injected in the artilleries of an esper, would prevent the esper from using their powers for three full hours after the dose had been administered. The main purpose for this invention was to subdue espers in the off-chance that a war would break out.

What was most disturbing about this article, and what did not go unnoticed by any of the three girls, was that the lab that these scientists worked in was found in ruins only two days ago. None of the scientists escaped the destruction alive, and both the samples of their invention and the designs for it were nowhere to be found.

"Even if it is only a couple of hours, if somebody is walking around Academy City with something like that…" Kazari trailed off, letting her words linger for a bit before turning to Kuroko, "We should bring this issue up with Konori-senpai and Anti-Skill! It can still become a big problem if left unchecked for too long!"

"And I will go home and see if I can find anything else about this person on the online forums," Ruiko announced, hurriedly taking her bag and getting ready to leave, "Well then, I'm off. I'll contact you when I find anything, Uiharu! Shirai-san! Good luck!"

"S-Saten-san!" Kazari called out, but it was all in vain as Ruiko had already closed the door behind her. With a sigh, Kazari turned back to the computer and began typing away again, "Let me see if I can find anything else on this."

"Please do, I'm counting on you," Kuroko said, slightly out of breath as she took out her phone. She frantically scanned through her contacts list until her eyes landed on a familiar name, "Hello? Konori-senpai?"

 _"Hello! This is Konori Mii. I am currently busy and not able to pick up my phone. Please try calling again in a few moments, or contact one of my juniors in Judgment, Shirai-san or Uiharu-san, for urgent matters. Cheers~"_

Kuroko lowered her hand slowly, trying to process what she had just heard. But one thing had truly stuck out to the teleporter, "What good is asking people to contact us if even we cannot contact you?"

"What was that, Shirai-san?" Kazari asked, looking up for a moment to see how Kuroko was doing. She only needed a moment to read Kuroko's facial expression to figure out what had happened. With an empathetic voice, Kazari added, "Konori-senpai is still away, I assume?"

"Unfortunately, yes… of course it is during the one time when we need her the most… when we actually need her…" Kuroko grumbled in annoyance. Trying to shake these feelings off, she then looked over Kazari's shoulder as the words flew across the computer screen, "Have you found anything yet?"

"No… there aren't any further reports or articles dedicated to this research," Kazari frowned as she tried to think of things that she could still look for. Then, off-handedly, she asked, "Should we tell this to our friends to tell them to be careful? It could get out of hands if this really took off, but we shouldn't stay quiet about this if they could be in potential danger."

"You're right…" Kuroko sighed, not looking forward to this, but knowing that Kazari was making a valid point here. She had opened her phone again and was about to make a call when her eyes landed on a certain name.

This was where Kuroko hesitated. What was she going to say? How much could she say to inform everyone without scaring them too much but still warn them enough?

'Onee-sama…' Kuroko thought with a sad smile as her finger hovered above her phone, 'You're just going to run straight into danger to try and stop him, aren't you? Even if you know that your powers would be taken away for a few hours if you fail.'

"Shirai-san?"

"Ah!" Kuroko exclaimed in shock, genuinely startled out of her train of thoughts as Kazari looked at her with a worried look on her face. Kuroko took a deep breath to calm herself down before trying to reassure Kazari, "I am all right…"

"That's great, Shirai-san, but we have a problem here," Kazari said as she pointed at the computer screen once again. Kuroko, expecting to see another article that Kazari had just found, deflated immediately when she saw what it actually was. At this point, she almost wished it was another article that would shed more light on that drug, "Anti-Skill is out of commission! We can't ask them for help now…"

Just as Kazari said, the window that was maximized on the computer screen showed an announcement that Anti-Skill was taking two days off to recover from an earlier fight. While both girls could understand this decision, they really cursed their luck as everything seemed to be going against them right now.

"That means… it is up to us…" Kuroko said with slight hesitance. Despite this, however, she seemed to be very determined, "Let's go, Uiharu!"

"Eh? Where to?" Kazari asked, shocked as Kuroko grabbed her wrist and forcefully dragged her out of the room. She barely had enough time to shut down the computer and grab her things before she was already standing outside, "S-Shirai-san, we have to think this through. We can't just rush into it; we can make a big mistake here if we go out there unprepared."

"I am not going out to try and find this rumored person, Uiharu," Kuroko explained to her friend as the two of them made their way through an unfamiliar street for Kazari, "The least we can do is try and get to the other Judgment branches and inform them in person. And since I could not contact any of them earlier when I tried calling Konori-senpai, we just have to tell them all in person!"

"You're right. Let's hurry!" Kazari exclaimed, picking up the pace a little so she wasn't dragging Kuroko behind anymore. Kuroko smiled as she saw this, the two girls running faster to try and get to their destination faster.

That was when both Kuroko and Kazari skidded to a halt after feeling a vibrating sensation in their pockets. They both stopped to take out their phone and were both surprised to see that they got a message. A message from the same person.

"Kongou Mitsuko…"

"I wonder what Kongou-san wanted to tell us," Kazari wondered out loud as she checked the message, her eyes scanning the screen for several seconds before it finally hit her.

"This…" Kazari heard Kuroko mutter in horror, which could only mean that Kuroko had finished reading her message as well.

"Shirai-san…" Kazari breathed out, defeated, turning to her partner and hoping that she knew how to handle the situation. When Kuroko remained silent for a while, Kazari tried again, "What do we do now?"

It wasn't that Kuroko didn't hear Kazari, nor was she ignoring her. Kuroko was deep in thought as she tried to think of the best solution for the problem that was thrown in their faces.

'The answer is obvious,' Kuroko smiled painfully to herself as she looked up in the sky. Or, rather, there was only one thing that they could do at a time like this.

"We don't have a choice…" Kuroko said, as seriously as possible as she turned to Kazari, "We have to split up. Uiharu, the one-hundredth-eighty-first branch is based only a couple of blocks away. Can I trust you to get this information to them safely?"

"I will try!" Kazari nodded, looking off into the direction that Kuroko was pointing to. She was about to run off when she remembered something and turned to Kuroko, "And Shirai-san?"

"I will go to Tokiwadai and see what I can do there," Kuroko announced, adjusting her armband and getting ready to leave, "Even if it is not as bad as we think it is, we still have the responsibility to inform everybody that we can. Hurry, but stay safe!"

"You too, Shirai-san!" Kazari said quickly, saying her goodbyes and running off. This wasn't a direction that she took normally, so she was hoping she could navigate it just fine, but still ran as fast as she could.

Kuroko remained standing silently as she watched Kazari run off, hoping and praying that if the urban legend was true that Kazari wouldn't run into that man. She reassured herself by reminding herself that Kazari was a member of Judgment too, which did help ease her worries.

"All right, I should start moving now too…" Kuroko breathed out, turning herself around to face the general direction that she had to go, the teleporter took off, "Wait for me, Kongou Mitsuko!"

* * *

 **And that is all for today's chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until two weeks from now! Take care!**


	3. The Threat is Here!

**First of all, happy new year, everybody! And welcome back to the next chapter of this fanfiction! I hope you all enjoy it~**

 **I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun.**

* * *

Kuroko was annoyed. Nothing was going her way today to the point where Kuroko was even considering that everything was working against her.

She was running as fast as she could through the streets of Academy City, dodging everything and everyone that she came across on her way. While her running speed was being aided by her power to teleport short distances, Kuroko's exhaustion was starting to take its toll on her after a long day of work. Kuroko was only functioning at a fraction of her full capabilities, her ability being considerably weakened compared to how it usually was.

Kuroko knew she had to keep going and that she could not afford to waste any more time, but her body could barely move anymore. Every part of her body was screaming for her to stop, and with the lack of air making her lightheaded Kuroko was almost ready to accept defeat and give in.

Of course, it was at that moment that Kuroko turned into the familiar street leading to Tokiwadai Junior High's school grounds. Kuroko was never happier to see those gates than she was now, this beautiful sight being enough to form a tear of joy in the corner of the teleporter's eye.

Kuroko knew that she couldn't rest just yet, however. She knew that she still had a bit more to go before she could breathe comfortably. Kuroko had to find Mitsuko, but where could she be? The school ground was huge, and Kuroko had to begrudgingly admit that she didn't know Mitsuko well enough to guess where she could be. And then a new question popped up in her mind.

Was Mitsuko even on the school grounds right now?

Just as Kuroko was about to dash off again, she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Shirai-san! Thank goodness you're here," the worried voice of Mitsuko came from Kuroko's right. When Kuroko turned around, she saw the second-year student rush towards her, panting heavily and looking surprisingly out of breath. Kuroko stopped, allowing Mitsuko to catch up to her and control her breathing again, "I'm sorry to have called you on such short notice."

"That is all right," Kuroko muttered while watching her rival stand up straight again. Despite their rather fierce rivalry in the past, both girls were starting to grow fond of the other as they had been fighting side by side on numerous occasions. Despite this, Kuroko still wanted to know what was going on and was not above pushing for answers, "What was so important that you needed me right now?"

"It would just be easier for me to show you than for us to be standing out here as I try to explain it," Mitsuko said, grabbing Kuroko's curiosity as Mitsuko was dusting herself off. She motioned for Kuroko to follow her before leading the way into the school grounds, "I was away this weekend to spend some time with my father and had just gotten back when I found out."

"Found what out, exactly?" Kuroko asked, curious at the way that Mitsuko was talking about this issue but not knowing how to dig for more information. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be getting her answer as both girls remained walking on silently after that.

Mitsuko was guiding Kuroko through a part of the school grounds that Kuroko didn't recognize, and it wasn't until several minutes had passed that the teleporter finally realized where she was going.

They were heading to Tokiwadai's second dorm in the School Garden. Kuroko was surprised at this revelation at first, but then it dawned on her that Mitsuko didn't stay in the same dormitory as she was.

The unlikely pair made their way as fast as they could, but the walk to the School Garden felt a lot longer than it always was. It was a pleasant and reassuring feeling when Kuroko saw Mitsuko's dormitory come into view.

Mitsuko unlocked the door with her access key and held it open for Kuroko who stepped inside with a silent thank you. Only then did Kuroko realize that, despite having been a student of Tokiwadai Junior High for a while, this was her first time in this dormitory.

"My room is this way," Mitsuko said, pointing to the hallway on her right, waiting for Kuroko's nod of understanding before leading the way again, "But please keep quiet, the Dormitory Inspector isn't in a very good mood today, and I would rather not set her off again."

"Suresure—What? 'Again'?" Kuroko rebutted, perhaps a little too loudly as Mitsuko slammed her palm on Kuroko's mouth in an effort to shut her up in time.

"Not. Here." Mitsuko growled lowly, trying to both remain as silent and as threatening as possible. It had the intended effect, though, and Mitsuko gladly let go before walking off in the direction of her room.

The two girls continued their little walk without any other mishaps until they finally reached their real destination. The door that unmistakably leads to Mitsuko's room, if all the decoration on the door was any indication of that.

Kuroko waited patiently for Mitsuko to open it, and when Mitsuko did and Kuroko entered she was pleasantly surprised at how familiar it looked. Mitsuko's room didn't look much different from Kuroko's own, much to Kuroko's initial shock. The only difference between the two rooms was that there was only one set of each piece of furniture in the room as Mitsuko had the room to herself.

But the way the room was furnished was not what interested Kuroko. What _did_ catch Kuroko's attention the moment she entered, however, was how they weren't alone in the room. Aside from Mitsuko's snake, Ekaterina, that was curled up in the corner, Kuroko also saw Maaya sitting on the wooden chair by the window and Kinuho slumped down on the messy bed.

Both girls didn't look up when Mitsuko and Kuroko entered, which did not go unnoticed by Kuroko, so Mitsuko called out to them. It took them by surprise, Maaya almost slipping out of her seat because of it, but they both smiled up at Mitsuko.

Kuroko could instantly see the sadness hidden behind those smiles, making a mental note of it to bring it up later.

"Kongou-san, you're back!" Kinuho smiled as she looked at Mitsuko, Kuroko shuffling into view from behind Mitsuko. When she saw the teleporter, Kinuho's eyes widened in shock, "S-Shirai-san? What brings you here?"

"Wannai-san. Awatsuki-san." Kuroko bowed her head slightly as she addressed her two classmates, both girls looking quite surprised at this gesture. As Mitsuko left Kuroko's side to walk to her friends' side, Kuroko added, "I got a message asking for me to come here quickly for an emergency. I still have not heard anything about it, and I am starting to—"

"I will go straight to the point then, Shirai-san," Mitsuko said calmly, trying to sound as serious and urgent as possible, as she cut into Kuroko's sentence. Kuroko fell silent and Mitsuko, albeit feeling somewhat bad at interrupting the teleporter, knew that this was for the best. With a deep breath, and taking a moment to look at both Maaya and Kinuho for confirmation, Mitsuko continued.

"Wannai-san and Awatsuki-san called me yesterday," Mitsuko began grimly, seeing how Maaya and Kinuho tried to keep a straight face in the corner of her field of vision. Mitsuko took another second to calm herself down before she continued, "They can't use their powers anymore."

A deathly silence lingered in the room after Mitsuko had said that. Both Maaya and Kinuho looked away with pain in their eyes and clenching their fists tightly. Mitsuko stood tall and kept her gaze fixed on Kuroko, wanting her to know that this was not her idea of a practical joke. She also managed to stand in such a way that blocked Kuroko's view on the two girls behind Mitsuko somewhat, something that both Maaya and Kinuho were silently thankful for.

At the same time, Kuroko just blinked once… twice… thrice…

"They cannot what?!" Kuroko exclaimed in both shock and horror, looking to the two girls in question for confirmation. Neither of them responded in any way, but Kuroko could tell from the look on their faces. Then, through gritted teeth, Kuroko added, "What happened… exactly?"

Another silence followed, Mitsuko relaxing considerably and even looking at the two girls behind her as Kuroko waited for an answer. After a minute of silence, Kuroko was about to open her mouth again to say something when somebody else beat her to it.

"Well…" it was Maaya who spoke, but she trailed off as she took a moment to share a nod with Kinuho who was still sitting on the bed. With a big sigh, she began to recount her story to Kuroko.

* * *

 _It was a dark night, the stars and moon in the skies above being blocked from view by_ _nimbostratus clouds. These clouds were even seemingly dampening the light from other sources, including from inside buildings and street lamps._

 _To make the walk home for Maaya and Kinuho even worse, there was a fresh breeze that brought with it typical Academy City fall temperatures. Neither girl was dressed for the occasion and, as a result, the sound of shivering became a regular occurrence between the two of them._

 _The two girls had been out shopping in the city for the day, having heard of and wanting to take advantage of the city-wide sale, but they had both lost track of time as they bought one item after the other. Now, with both of their hands filled with heavy shopping bags, they were trying to make their way home when Maaya suggested taking a shortcut._

 _This was what had led the two girls to this current predicament, Maaya already standing in the alley and Kinuho hesitating right outside._

 _"A-Are you sure about this, Awatsuki-san?" Kinuho asked Maaya carefully, sounding surprisingly worried as she followed the blue-haired girl into an unfamiliar and dark alley. She wasn't quite sure about this, even if it was the School Garden, and wasn't afraid to show it, "I-I mean, it should still be okay for us to take our usual route, right?"_

 _"Come on, Wannai-san," Maaya insisted, trying to pull Kinuho into the alley with her but being rather unsuccessful at this. Realizing this, Maaya added with a sigh, "I promise that this is a safe route and we will be able to get to our dormitory faster. Now come on, let's hurry or we won't make it for curfew!"_

 _"O-Okay…" Kinuho mumbled softly, stepping away from the comfort of the somewhat brightly lit streets to meekly follow Maaya into the darkness._

 _Somehow, the two girls felt as if the alley was surprisingly dark. While it was true that it was a decent bit away from the main street, neither of them thought that it should be devoid of light this much._

 _"A-Awatsuki-san…? A-Are you—Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Kinuho squealed softly not long after the two had entered the alley, trying her hardest to keep her composure and remain brave. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't tell if the trembling of her friend's body was an indication of fear or cold. Kinuho could only hope that it was the evening air's fault._

 _She was mistaken._

 _"Maybe you were right… and we shouldn't have come this way," Maaya chuckled sheepishly as she looked at Kinuho from over her shoulder._

 _And that was when Kinuho's heart sunk._

 _Maaya looked terrified._

 _"A-Awatsuki-san…" Kinuho breathed out, trying to calm down herself to try and become the one who supported Maaya. Kinuho nodded, more to herself than to Maaya, trying to be as confident and reassuring as possible before adding, "Let's go back to the main street and go home from there. I-If we're late, we can always say we got lost."_

 _"R-R-Right…" Maaya was about to turn around and go back the way they came from when she heard something._

 _The distinct sound of footsteps echoed through the alley, despite the fact that neither Maaya nor Kinuho were moving. They both knew what this meant, but were both confused when they tried to pinpoint the direction of the sound._

 _"I-Is it just me, or did—did that sound sounded like it came from all around us?" Maaya asked uncomfortably, her back against Kinuho's as they got into a fighting stance. Even though they weren't sure that it was hostile, they also weren't sure that it wasn't._

 _"Just be ready for the worst," Kinuho replied steadily, digging through her bags and pulling out two bottles filled with water._

 _Maaya took a deep breath to calm herself down before nodding in agreement. As she did, she looked at her surroundings while making a mental note where all the objects around her were. Behind her, Kinuho was ready for a fight as well._

 _What they weren't ready for was what happened next._

 _A soft thud came from beside both girls, causing both of them to turn to see what fell. They made it in time…_

 _Both girls felt a sudden freezing sensation from the backs of their neck spread all across their body, effectively paralyzing them. Neither knew whether seconds passed, or minutes, or even hours._

 _All that they knew was that their mouths were wide open in a silent scream of fear._

 _And then the feeling ended before the entire world turning pitch-black…_

* * *

"The next thing that we knew, we were resting in the nurse's office here," Maaya concluded her story with a deep breath, her throat slightly sore from recounting the events of the previous night to Kuroko.

"When we woke up, we found out that neither of us could use our abilities," Kinuho said, picking back up where Maaya had left off as the blue-haired girl stood up to get a glass of water for herself, "And we still can't right now…"

As if to prove her point, Kinuho took her water bottle and opened it, flicking her index finger around as she usually did when using her powers. This time, however, nothing happened. Kinuho tried a couple more times, with varying hand motions and degrees of concentration, but the result remained the same.

"Shirai-san, you work in Judgment, right?" Mitsuko asked suddenly, turning away from Mitsuko and looking at Kuroko. When Kuroko nodded in confirmation, Mitsuko continued, "Do you know anything about this? Like how long Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san don't have their powers anymore or what we can do to help them?"

"I… do not know…" Kuroko frowned, resting her chin on her fist as she was trying to think of something. After a momentary pause, seemingly having made up her mind on something, she looked up, "Uiharu and I have found some articles of a group of scientists designing a drug that could neutralize an esper's ability, but—"

"They did what?!" Mitsuko exclaimed, sounding rightfully shocked and furious. Both Maaya and Kinuho behind here were just as shocked, if not more so, by this revelation but managed to keep calm. Mitsuko didn't stop there, though, "What do you mean they did that?! Who in their right mind thought that that would be a good idea?!"

"I do not know! But… they are apparently not the culprit behind this…" Kuroko added softly. When she saw the look on Mitsuko's face, she knew that she had to say more or face Mitsuko's wrath, "The scientists are missing, and all their facilities and blueprints are supposedly destroyed."

"Oh…" Mitsuko deflated instantly, all her emotions from earlier dissipating almost completely. Then, in a much calmer voice, she added, "But what makes Shirai-san so sure that whoever did this to Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san didn't just steal the drugs from those scientists?"

"Because even if that is what they used, the effects of that drug only lasted a couple of hours at most. And a complex drug like that cannot be replicated or modified without the blueprints which, as I said earlier, had been destroyed already," Kuroko explained patiently, easing everybody's minds that that wasn't what happened. It did bring up another issue, though, and Kuroko was quick to address it, "It does leave me to wonder who or what did this, though."

"Do you have any ideas?" Mitsuko asked, curious to know and feeling powerless to help her friends. She deflated a little, however, when Kuroko shook her head in the negative.

"I already told you everything that I know about this," Kuroko said with a sigh, crossing her arms in annoyance as she, too, wished that she could do something more. Turning to Maaya and Kinuho, Kuroko added, "Uiharu is currently on her way to some of the other Judgment branches to see if they know anything else."

"Thank you, Shirai-san…" Kinuho smiled sadly as Maaya nodded appreciatively in agreement. Kinuho was still slumped down on Mitsuko's bed, but knowing that something was being done about this seemed to help improve her mood.

"I do want to ask something else if I may," Kuroko said, turning to both victims before waiting for confirmation that she could continue. Both Maaya and Kinuho motioned for Kuroko to do so in their own way so that was exactly what Kuroko did, "Awatsuki-san said that you two ended up in the nurse's office after that. You lost consciousness in that alley, so I do not think you could have gone there yourselves. Do either of you remember how you got there or who brought you there?"

"Now that you mention it…" Maaya trailed off blankly, sharing eye contact with Kinuho for a moment. Both girls knew that they were thinking the same thing: neither of them knew.

Mitsuko picked up on the answer and was quick to voice the question on her mind, "So somebody helped Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san get to safety and back home. Why?"

Mitsuko then got distracted as she continued her conversation with just Maaya and Kinuho, discussing the possible answers and how they could find whoever had helped them to properly thank them. As a result, all of them were blissfully unaware of what Kuroko was doing.

'Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san got attacked… and then somebody saved them… and brought them here…' Kuroko thought to herself, trying to keep calm despite the situation while trying to think of possible answers, 'We are asking the wrong question… it is not why that person helped them, it is who that is important… who could have helped them? And how did they know Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san live in this dormitory?'

* * *

"So let me try to get this straight," Mikoto said, holding her hands up to try and slow her sister down after the long story that she had been told. Misaka 10032 nodded silently, telling Mikoto that she was waiting, "Somebody attacked Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san?! Why?"

"'That I do not know, Onee-sama', Misaka says with a sad and apologetic smile," came the reply as Misaka 10032 shook her head slowly. As she combed through her hair with her fingers, she added, "All that Misaka know is that they needed my help then, so that is what Misaka did. Misaka assumed that they were students from Tokiwadai Junior High and brought them to the nearest dormitory."

The two Misakas had managed to reach the place that Misaka 10032 was staying at: the hospital, where she and the other sisters who remained in the city had a room for themselves. The room itself was small but surprisingly spacious, and it had everything that Misaka 10032 would need to have a comfortable stay in it for the time that she would be here.

Mikoto was sitting on the carpeted floor, a glass of milk tea in front of her as Misaka 10032 took a sip of her own glass. Seeing how happy her sister was at drinking the tea put a smile on Mikoto's face.

"'There is something else that I should tell you, Onee-sama' Misaka says as Misaka looks Onee-sama in the eyes," Misaka 10032 said suddenly, grabbing Mikoto's attention at both how sudden this proclamation was and the way she sounded. With a deep breath, the sister continued.

"'There have been rumors going around about espers losing their abilities,' Misaka says as Misaka gauges Onee-sama's reaction to this new piece of information." Misaka 10032 began, though she was interrupted from continuing when the sound of breaking glass resonated through the room.

"There is what?!" Mikoto exclaimed, looking at Misaka 10032 with a look that bordered between terror and anger. Misaka 10032 didn't respond to Mikoto's outburst, but that was already more than enough answer for Mikoto.

"'Onee-sama should be careful and not hurt herself on the glass shards,' Misaka says as Misaka points at a shard dangerously close to Onee-sama's left hand," Misaka 10032 pointed with her index and, following it with her eyes, Mikoto saw that she was right. As she lowered her hand, and Mikoto placed the shard a safe distance away from her, Misaka 10032 continued, "'Do not worry about cleaning up, I will do that after Onee-sama's stay here.'"

"Sorry about the mess…" Mikoto mumbled apologetically, ashamed of how she had been acting. She had to pull herself together; she was supposed to be the older and more responsible one!

"'Onee-sama is still worried about something, is she not?' Misaka asks despite knowing the answer to Misaka's own question already," Misaka 10032 pointed out, startling Mikoto in the process and reminding her once again that the sisters were extraordinarily perceptive. Then, with a softer and gentler voice, Misaka 10032 added, "'Onee-sama can share her thoughts and worries with me, it is okay. That is what sisters are for, right?' Misaka says, trying to reassure Onee-sama and act like a good little sister."

"You're right…" Mikoto chuckled to herself, making sure to remember that her sisters were a lot more mature and knowledgeable than they may seem to be. Mikoto took a second to try and find the right words, but once she did she knew that she wasn't going to let anything stop her from finding the answer, "It's just hard to believe that someone or something can take away the power of espers. And even if it were possible then wouldn't Judgment or Anti-Skill be quick to act on it?"

"'Unfortunately, they cannot,' Misaka says with a sad look on her face as she recalls what Misaka had heard from the Misaka Network," Misaka 10032 replied, closing her eyes for a second so she could focus. This only lasted several seconds, though, and she quickly shook her head when her eyes were open again, "Anti-Skill is on hiatus right now, and Judgment does not know yet. At least, that is what Misaka 19090 said three hours ago. It could be that things are different now, but Misaka doubts this."

"Judgment doesn't know yet…" Mikoto repeated, trailing off as she let this piece of information sink in. Her mind instantly went to her two friends who she knew wouldn't rest until they found out what was going on, and Mikoto nodded to herself, "I don't think that Judgment will remain clueless for long. Actually, I'm sure that they will catch on quickly."

"'But will they do so fast enough?' Misaka asks seriously, trying to convey the magnitude of the problem to Onee-sama without scaring Onee-sama too much in the process."

This response shocked Mikoto, but she had to agree that her sister made a good point. Even Judgment could be late with catching on, but even so…

"I'm sure that they will. Kuroko and Uiharu-san are in Judgment, so they should be able to find out about this quickly; especially with Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san already falling victim," Mikoto said, her voice slightly higher than it usually was. This was not something that went unnoticed by Misaka 10032, but she remained quiet about it.

"'The fastest way to inform them is to inform them ourselves,' Misaka says as Misaka suggests the best possible mode of action." Misaka 10032 said, and Mikoto nodded in agreement, "Does Onee-sama know where members of Judgment are right now?"

"Kuroko should be home in the dorms already by now…" Mikoto muttered to herself before her gaze landed on the window. More specifically, it landed on the view that she had of the outside world, "It's that late already?! I have to go back or the dorm supervisor is going to kill me!"

Mikoto had already jumped on her feet and grabbed her things when she felt something grab her wrist. Looking down, she saw the sister holding on tight, clearly not willing to let go off Mikoto anytime soon.

"'It is too dangerous to go out there alone, what if you suffer the same fate as your friends did?' Misaka asks as Misaka shows her worried side, not wanting Onee-sama to get hurt or lose her powers," Misaka 10032 held on tighter, trying her hardest to keep Mikoto from leaving despite being weaker than Mikoto in every sense of the word.

"I can't stay here either; I didn't submit a request form in time, and if I'm not back soon I will be in trouble!" Mikoto countered, almost able to see the menacing glare of the dorm supervisor as she catches Mikoto out after curfew.

"'If Onee-sama is that stubborn to go home now, then Onee-sama leaves Misaka no choice…' Misaka says with a sigh as Misaka reluctantly lets go of Onee-sama's wrist," Misaka 10032 did exactly what she said she would do, but then surprised Mikoto by standing up and putting her special set of goggles on top of her head, "Misaka will escort Onee-sama back to Tokiwadai."

"Is that really necessary—" Mikoto began, not wanting to cause more trouble for her sister, but was forcefully interrupted.

"'In the worst-case scenario where Misaka and Onee-sama are attacked, Misaka can make use of the Misaka Network to quickly get help.' Misaka explains as she adjusts her clothes and goggles," Misaka 10032 continued, grabbing her keys and several firearms before standing still momentarily. Mikoto assumed that she was communicating with the other sisters, and this assumption was proven when Misaka 10032 opened her mouth again.

"'We appear to be in luck, Misaka 10039 and Misaka 13577 are still in the city between here and Tokiwadai. If anything happens, they can come and help us,' Misaka informs Onee-sama of what Misaka heard on the Misaka Network," Misaka 10032 nodded to Mikoto, an action that was returned albeit somewhat hesitantly so.

"If you're sure about this, then let's go," Mikoto said, slightly jittery as time was ticking down for her, "The more time I spend getting to Tokiwadai, the more chances the dorm supervisor has to punish me. And we have a decently long walk ahead of us."

"'It should be all right, Onee-sama. We can and should be able to reach Tokiwadai before curfew if we leave right now.' Misaka explains as Misaka tries to reassure Onee-sama that there is nothing to worry about," Misaka 10032 said as Mikoto motioned that she was ready to go. Misaka 10032 nodded, and opened the door for Mikoto, "After you, Onee-sama."

"Right… thank you," Mikoto nodded gratefully as she stood up and left the room first, waiting in the dimly lit corridor of the hospital as Misaka 10032 locked up her room.

When Misaka 10032 motioned that she was ready to go, the two girls started to make their way to Tokiwadai. It was getting late, something that did not go unnoticed by either girl, but somehow Mikoto felt at ease knowing that she wasn't alone. That there was somebody with her right now.

Neither Mikoto nor Misaka 10032 said much as they walked, both preferring to stay silent and simply enjoying the company of the other in the night. While walking, Mikoto was hit with waves of nostalgia as the two of them passed familiar places, including the tree where Mikoto first met Misaka 9982. It had been weeks since that day, but Mikoto could remember it vividly in her mind.

"'This is where Onee-sama first met one of us, was it not?' Misaka asks as Misaka observes the change in Onee-sama's facial expression," Misaka 10032 noted, startling Mikoto out of her train of thoughts as she, too, looked at the tree in question with fascination, "It may not be me who Onee-sama met on that day, but the memories of it are ingrained in Misaka's memories as well through the Misaka Network."

"It sure has been a while since then…" Mikoto murmured softly with a small smile, eliciting a smile to form on Misaka 10032's face as well. That was when Mikoto remembered what they were doing as her eyes landed on the clock above, "Ah! We have to hurry! Let's go!"

"'Onee-sama, please wait!' Misaka calls out as Misaka wants Onee-sama to listen," Misaka 10032 reached out for Mikoto's arm and yanked it back forcefully. When she realized what she just did, Misaka 10032 apologized for acting out, but then pointed in the distance, "This road is off-limits due to construction work. We need to take a detour, Onee-sama."

Much to her disappointment, Mikoto saw that her sister was right. A sign that could not have been up for more than a few hours said exactly that while apologizing for the inconvenience that the construction would cause people.

And what an inconvenience it was! The fastest way to Tokiwadai had to be under construction right when Mikoto needed to use it to get back home more than any other day.

Mikoto groaned in annoyance and frustration, but she knew that she didn't have much choice otherwise. Eventually, she turned to her sister and asked, "Do you know the fastest way to Tokiwadai without going through here then?"

"'It just so happens that I do, Onee-sama,' Misaka says proudly as Misaka shows off her knowledge on the streets of Academy City," Misaka 10032 replied, already looking around her. Nodding silently to herself, she turned to Mikoto, "Follow me, Onee-sama."

Misaka 10032 then walked into an alley, looking back periodically to make sure that Mikoto did not fall behind too much. Unfortunately for the two of them, there wasn't enough space to walk side-by-side, so Mikoto had to settle for walking behind her sister.

The alley itself was not just narrow, it was dark and reeked of rats and trash. Mikoto had to cover her mouth and nose to prevent herself from inhaling too much of this air, but she knew that she would have to power through it. After all, Misaka 10032 chose this road to get her home as fast as possible, and Mikoto trusted her judgment.

Suddenly, Misaka 10032 raised her hand to halt Mikoto's path, preventing the level five esper from moving forward. Mikoto was about to ask why they had stopped suddenly when the smell got too much for her, causing Mikoto to cough violently.

As Mikoto's coughing fit came to an end, she heard Misaka 10032 step forward defiantly. Through her tears, Mikoto could even see that Misaka 10032 had put her special goggles on and was holding a gun in either one of her hands.

"'It is no use hiding, I already know that you are here,' Misaka says as Misaka faces the enemy," Misaka 10032 announced loud and clear while simultaneously standing in such a way that she was blocking Mikoto from view.

Mikoto was first wondering what her sister was talking about, not seeing or hearing anyone else. Wondering if her sister could be right, Mikoto used her powers to sense the electromagnetic waves around her and used that to help heighten her senses. That was when she knew that the two of them weren't alone: there was another person only a couple meters away. Though who was…

A shrill laugh bounced off the narrow walls around them, seemingly sounding as if it came from all directions around them. Mikoto heightened her senses to try and pinpoint the source of the laugh, and even Misaka 10032 seemed like she was doing just that as well.

Neither girl was very successful at that, but that was when they realized that they didn't need to anymore. They did not need to find the third person in the alley.

The third person had found them. Slowly but surely, this figure came into view as they stepped out of the veil of shadows in front of Mikoto and Misaka 10032 and confronted the two girls.

* * *

 **And that wraps up today's chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it, please leave a review on your way out telling me what you thought, and until next time! Take care!**


	4. Fighting for a Friend

**And here we are once again with another chapter of this story. Things are about to get interesting if I do say so myself, so let's get to it!**

 **Disclaimer's the same as always: I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

Right outside the Tokiwadai dormitory in the School Garden, two Tokiwadai Junior High School students could be seen talking with each other. Mitsuko and Kuroko had left the warmth and safety of Mitsuko's dorm room in favor of talking in private; or, rather, in order to talk without forcing Maaya or Kinuho to listen along.

Not long after she heard the story from her classmates, Kuroko decided that she wanted to get some fresh air. When Mitsuko saw this, she insisted on coming with the teleporter, and that left the two of them where they are now.

"What will you do now, Shirai-san?" Mitsuko asked as she looked at Kuroko expectantly, waiting for an answer that would bring them forward in finding out how to help Maaya and Kinuho.

"I am afraid that I am unable to do much right now," Kuroko said with a pained expression. When she saw the look on Mitsuko's face, Kuroko quickly added, "You don't understand! We in Judgment cannot act out rashly; we need to have concrete evidence before we can request to act to the higher-ups. The same is true with Anti-Skill."

"Evidence? Isn't Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san getting hurt like that enough evidence?!" Mitsuko exploded, pointing a very unladylike finger at her dorm room to emphasize her point before adding, "Can't you do—"

"Unfortunately, it will only warrant an investigation. We cannot do anything about it unless we know more about the issue at hand," Kuroko tried to explain, hoping that this time it was clearer for her taller friend. When she realized that it wasn't, Kuroko tried again, "Remember when we fought STUDY to help and protect Febrie? We as people knew that they were up to something, but we could not act out unless they acted first or we would have been in the wrong."

"That… that's so unfair!" Mitsuko wailed, deflating almost immediately as reality finally struck her. Kuroko nodded silently, showing her personal opinion on the matter at hand without having to say anything.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Mitsuko asked, looking up at Kuroko in defeat as all that she could do was hope for the best.

"There is something that we can do, and we are doing it right now, actually," Kuroko said with a smile, surprising Mitsuko in the process with this piece of information. As Kuroko was rummaging through her bag for something, she added off-handedly, "We found a lot about this already earlier thanks to Saten-san informing us about it. Uiharu should be on her way to other Judgment branches right now if she is not in one already."

"And you think that if enough branches of Judgment take action that we can get permission from the higher-ups to look for the one who is doing this?" Mitsuko asked hopefully, happy to see that Kuroko nodded in confirmation soon after she said this, "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"Unfortunately, no. This is the responsibility of Judgment and Anti-Skill when they get word of this," Kuroko said seriously, stopping what she was doing to look Mitsuko in the eyes, "I cannot allow a citizen to get involved in this."

"'Get involved in this'…?" Mitsuko echoed slowly, allowing the words that she had just heard to truly sink in. When they finally did, Mitsuko forcefully grabbed Kuroko by the shoulders and, before Kuroko had a chance to respond, she exploded, "What do you mean I should not get involved with this?! Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san got hurt and are suffering right now! How do you expect me to stay out of this? This is a personal fight!"

"I understand how you feel, Kongou-san, but I really cannot let you act out rashly," Kuroko said as calmly as possible, putting her hands on Mitsuko's to escape from the taller girl's vice-like grip on both of her shoulders, "We are doing all that we can to put an end to this. Please believe me when I say that this will not go unpunished. We _will_ find whoever did this."

"Shirai-san…" Mitsuko breathed out as she watched Kuroko put on her Judgment armband and taking out her phone. When Mitsuko saw Kuroko dial a number, she let curiosity get the better of her, "Who are you calling?"

"I need to make sure whether or not Uiharu has already reached her destination and if she has received a reply yet," Kuroko explained as she held her phone to her ear. Fortunately for her, it didn't take too long for her partner to pick up the phone, "Hello? Uiharu? Where are you right now?"

 _"Ah, Shirai-san! I'm still in the office of the one-hundredth-and-eighty-first branch. They said that they heard about it and are now looking into it to see if they can find anything."_

"That is great, thank you for the good work as always," Kuroko smiled, despite knowing that Kazari couldn't see this. Kuroko then shared eye contact with Mitsuko, and it was then that Kuroko remembered what had just happened, "Oh yeah, about that Uiharu… it seems like things are worse than it first seemed."

 _"What do you mean, Shirai-san? Did you run into the thief who had the drugs? Are you all right?"_

"Relax, Uiharu, I am perfectly fine," Kuroko chuckled lightly, both amused and thankful at how worried Kazari sounded on the other end of the call. As this feeling washed over her body, Kuroko recalled what happened to Maaya and Kinuho and her mood fell, "But it seems like Saten-san was right. There is somebody out there who can take away the powers of espers."

"What?!" Mitsuko shouted in shock upon hearing this but, unfortunately for her, went completely ignored as Kuroko continued her call with Kazari as if nothing happened.

"Do you remember Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san?" Kuroko asked, hearing a soft murmur of confirmation on the other side of the call, prompting Kuroko to continue, "They apparently ran into this person the other night, and it did not turn out well for them. Neither of them can use their powers yet despite it already being about a day since their encounter."

 _"I see… We really have to work faster, then, if our friends are starting to suffer because of it. I will bring this up with the people here and see if they know anything else. Until then, please be careful, Shirai-san, and tell everybody else to be careful too."_

"I will. Thanks, Uiharu," Kuroko said as she ended the call, putting her phone back in her pocket and turning to Mitsuko, "You may have heard what Uiharu said, but I will say this again. Be careful when you are going out; we do not know who or what is out there or when they might target you."

"Shirai-san…" Mitsuko trailed off, slightly surprised at how worried Kuroko seemed right now. She quickly recovered from this, however, and she responded, "The same goes for you as well. Judgment requires you to patrol the city regularly, right? Be careful when you go out, Shirai-san."

"Right right, I will be careful," Kuroko waved off Mitsuko's worries without much of a care, "I know what I am up against. If there is anyone we should be worried about making any rash actions, it would be Onee-sama."

A short silence followed after Kuroko said those words, the only sound that broke this silence was the rustling of leaves overhead. Mitsuko nodded silently in agreement as she remembered how reckless one of Tokiwadai's two level fives was before Kuroko finally realized what she had just said.

"Ah! Onee-sama!" Kuroko exclaimed suddenly, startling Mitsuko in the process who wasn't ready for this sudden outburst. Kuroko, however, ignored Mitsuko reaction and instead took out her phone again. She dialed a certain number in a frenzied manner before holding her phone close to her ear, "Come on… come on… pick up, Onee-sama…"

 _"Hi~ it's Misaka Mikoto! If you're hearing this, then I'm sorry but I can't pick up my phone right now."_

"Seriously, Onee-sama… the one time when I _need_ you to pick up my call…" Kuroko grumbled in annoyance, lowering her phone again before she thought of something. Hoping that this would work, she dialed another number. This time, the call did reach.

 _"Hello? Shirai-san? What's wrong?"_

"Uiharu, I know that you are busy with talking with the other Judgment branch members, but I need your help right now!" Kuroko said in a hurry, realizing too late that she might be talking too fast. With Mitsuko's hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down, Kuroko took a deep breath before she continued, "I cannot reach Onee-sama on the phone and I am afraid that she might have run into this person. I am not sure, but if she _has_ heard about this somehow then, knowing her, she would run straight into it."

 _"You're right… all right, I will try and see if I can find Misaka-san on the security cameras. Are there any areas that I should focus more attention on, Shirai-san?"_

"I… do not know…" Kuroko admitted, realizing just how bad the situation was. She hadn't seen or heard from Mikoto at all lately, their short little meeting in the café earlier that day was the first time in days.

 _"Hello? Shirai-san? Are you still there?"_

"Ah! Y-Yes, I am still here," Kuroko replied, slightly embarrassed that she zoned out at such a crucial time. She reminded herself what she was doing and what was happening, after which she quickly added, "I am going to search for Onee-sama. Uiharu, contact me if you have any leads as to where she could be, all right?"

 _"Roger! Good luck and stay safe, Shirai-san!"_

Kuroko nodded appreciatively, ending the call and putting her phone back for what she could only hope would be the final time that day. She was about to rush off to cover as much ground as possible when she felt a firm grip on her wrist.

Looking around for the perpetrator, Kuroko was shocked to see that it was Mitsuko who was keeping Kuroko in place.

"What are you doing? Let go!" Kuroko struggled to break free, knowing that she couldn't use her powers to simply get rid of Mitsuko. Unfortunately for her, Mitsuko didn't seem like she was returning Kuroko's freedom anytime soon, "I need to hurry! Stop wasting my time!"

"I'm coming with you."

"The more time I lose here the greater the chance that—wait, what?" Kuroko added dumbfounded, finally processing what Mitsuko just said. Kuroko shook her head violently before looking up at Mitsuko, "You cannot! This is a job for Judgment and Anti-Skill, I cannot allow you to get involved with this."

"I'm already involved with this," Mitsuko argued back, looking back at her dormitory with a pained look in her eyes, "My friends got hurt because of this… Misaka-san could very well be that person's next target. I'm involved now, Shirai-san, no matter what anyone else would have wanted."

"Kongou-san…" Kuroko trailed off, slowly realizing just how difficult this must be for Mitsuko. Finally, Kuroko nodded in confirmation, "All right, fine… but do not hold me back and do not get into any kind of trouble that you cannot get out of yourself."

"Right back at you, Shirai-san," Mitsuko smirked, the embers of her competitive side burning brightly once again. The two of them were about to rush off when Mitsuko thought of something, "Say, Shirai-san, do you know any clues or where we should start looking for Misaka-san?"

"That… is a good question…" Kuroko admitted after a minute of consideration, sounding perfectly casual as the confession left her. Mitsuko, having expected Kuroko to at least have a direction, was shocked.

"You mean we're just running around until we _happen_ to run into Misaka-san?" Mitsuko asked indignantly, to which Kuroko nodded stiffly in response.

"Until Uiharu gets back to us without an actual location of where Onee-sama is, it is all that we can do," Kuroko said as she looked around, trying to figure the best way to go about this. With a smirk, she added, "So it might actually be good that you are coming along. We can cover more ground that way."

"We have wasted enough time already," Kuroko said with a glance at the clock above her. Mitsuko followed the teleporter's gaze and saw that she was right; it was only half an hour until all students had to be in their dorm rooms for curfew, "Let's go!"

* * *

Blissfully unaware of what was happening in other parts of the city, Ruiko was finding herself sitting in front of her computer and doing what she does best. With the parfait of Kazari melting slightly on her side, Ruiko skimmed through forum post after forum post with a dedicated eye.

It was different now, she knew. She wasn't just looking around for urban legends to amuse herself; she had to get to the bottom of this to try and help her friends. Much like how her friends had done everything that they could to try and save her not too long ago.

Much to Ruiko's disappointment, she found out that her AC was broken when she got home after seeing Kazari and Kuroko in the Judgment office. Ruiko had already sent in a request to have it fixed, but it was still not working as well as it should be. As a result, the room was warmer than Ruiko was comfortable with it being, and even the parfait that Ruiko was eating slowly wasn't able to help much to try and cool her down.

She did not let this affect her, however, and Ruiko reminded herself what she was doing to regain her focus.

"Let's see…" Ruiko muttered to herself as words flew across the screen. She saw interesting posts in passing, posts that she would have opened without a second thought had it been any other day. But she knew that she had to try and only focus on relevant posts for her now.

Ruiko did not need a lot of time to find out the sad truth.

"Why are there no posts about it?!" Ruiko cried out, tangling her fingers in her hair in annoyance as she leaned back in her chair. It was strange and something that Ruiko did not understand; she thought that a rumor as big and groundbreaking as the removal of esper powers would be the talk of the online forums. It would seem that Ruiko was mistaken.

In an effort to try and cool down, Ruiko stood up and made her way to the fridge to get a cold drink. She knew that it wouldn't help fight off the warmth completely, but Ruiko convinced herself that it would at least be better than doing absolutely nothing.

On her way back with a cold can of juice in hand, Ruiko saw some interesting lights from out of her window. Intrigued, she walked over to the window curiously until she nearly hit the glass with her forehead.

"What is out there…?" Ruiko thought out loud, narrowing her eyes to try and get a better view of what was out there. She ended up looking into the darkness for a very long time until something actually did happen.

A bright flash of light, seemingly coming from a street not too far away from where Ruiko was, illuminated the whole area. The intensity of the light even succeeded in forcing Ruiko to take a step back and cover her eyes despite how far away she was.

"What… was that…?" Ruiko muttered some time after she had recovered, still rubbing her eyes to try and regain her vision. She stepped forward to try and see what was happening and to try and find the source of light that had blinded her just now. Much to her disappointment, however, Ruiko found out that it had gotten dark yet again, preventing her from seeing very far.

"That was a weird light," Ruiko said to herself, pushing the image to the back of her head as a rebel starting a fight in the street that caused it. Ruiko went back to her computer whilst trying to focus on her search once again, but found her mind continuously drift back to what was happening outside, "It almost didn't feel like it was just light, but that it came from… light…ning…"

The last few words hadn't left her mouth and Ruiko was already rushing back to the window to try and see if she was right. To try and see if that flash of light was caused by what she thought it was.

Ruiko ended up standing there for what could have been hours for the girl and nothing out of the ordinary happened. She was about to give up and get some rest when it happened.

A large bolt of lightning flew into the sky and electrified the clouds that had started to form not too long ago above it. Ruiko's heart sunk as she saw it, recognizing that light as she knew that she had seen it before; whatever doubts she might have had earlier about what had caused that light disappearing instantly.

Ruiko quickly searched for her phone, mentally berating herself for not putting it in its usual place, when she tried to call her friend. After the call rang a couple of seconds, however, Ruiko found much to her disappointment that Mikoto was not picking up.

"Misaka-san…" Ruiko trailed off as she looked out to try and get a glimpse of the electricity-user. Unfortunately, time kept ticking by and Ruiko could still not see a single thing outside.

"If I can't reach Misaka-san, then maybe…" Ruiko muttered to herself, trying to think of what she could do now. It could very well have been a different electromaster, but Ruiko knew that she was lying to herself; there was only one electromaster in the city capable of doing what she just saw.

Having made up her mind, Ruiko scrolled through her phone again until she found the name that she was looking for. She clicked on the name, held it close to her ear, and hoped that this one would connect.

 _"Saten-san? I am sort of in the middle of something here, so please make it quick."_

"Ah, sorry to disturb you, Shirai-san," Ruiko said quickly, silently thanking the teleporter for picking up her phone when Ruiko needed her the most. Knowing that she didn't have a lot of time, with how Kuroko was sounding like she was busy with something, Ruiko tried to make it quick, "Is Misaka-san with you now, Shirai-san?"

 _"Onee-sama? No, I am out trying to find her. Why?"_

"It's just that I saw a big source of electricity not far from my dorm just a few minutes ago," Ruiko said as she peered out of her window again, trying to find the source of the lightning again to convince the teleporter.

She couldn't find any signs of lightning outside, but it turned out that she didn't need to.

 _"Do you have an approximate direction?"_

"Shirai-san…?" Ruiko asked, trailing off as she waited for a response. She didn't get this, unfortunately, so she had to settle for helping her friend, hoping and praying that Kuroko knew what was going on more than she did, "It's about three blocks away from my dorm, in the direction of that café we went to today."

 _"Three blocks… in the direction of… got it. Thank you, Saten-san! Call Uiharu and ask her for the details, tell her that I told you to ask her. Sorry, but I need to hurry!"_

Kuroko had already ended the call before Ruiko could say or do anything else, forcing Ruiko to listen to the annoying ringing sound of a call that had been terminated.

Ruiko lowered her phone with a sigh, wondering what was so important for Kuroko to run off in a hurry like that. It was, of course, at that moment that Ruiko remembered what had been happening and, with a heavy heart as if expecting the worse, dialed Kazari's number.

"Hey Uiharu, sorry to bother you, but I need to ask you something," Ruiko began slowly after Kazari had picked up her phone. Surprising Ruiko a bit, there seemed to be a lot of background noise on Kazari's end, almost as if she was busy in a room full of other people. Ruiko shook this feeling off and pushed it to the back of her mind before continuing, "I just called Shirai-san and she seemed to be in a hurry for some reason. Do you know why?"

 _"Well… remember that urban legend that you found and told Shirai-san and I about today? It turns out that it is a lot worse than we thought that it was…"_

"A lot worse, you say? How so?" Ruiko asked, genuinely curious as she had yet to find anything new about the rumor after coming home. And, from the sound of things, her friends did not suffer the same fate, which only helped make Ruiko even more curious.

 _"It turns out that there really is someone with that ability. Shirai-san's classmates, Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san, ran into this person last night and haven't been able to use their powers since."_

"No way! You're saying that they lost it?!" Ruiko exclaimed in shock. Then, worriedly, she added, "Is there anything we can do to help them?"

 _"We don't know yet, but Shirai-san and Kongou-san are currently trying to see if they can. But more importantly, they're trying to find Misaka-san because Shirai-san fears that Misaka-san might be going after this dangerous person on her own."_

"Misaka-san…" Ruiko trailed off, looking out of her window instinctively. She knew that she couldn't see anything, but now that Ruiko knew what was going on she couldn't help but feel worried.

 _"Ah, I'm sorry, Saten-san, I have to go! Stay safe out there!"_

The beeping noise of a call that had been terminated resonated through the room once again, but Ruiko didn't bother to turn it off this time. After a few seconds, the sound stopped on its own, but Ruiko was still zoned out and had not even noticed this.

With an empty look in her eyes, she looked out of the window in the direction where she saw that first bolt of lightning emerge. If what Kazari said was true, and Ruiko knew that she could trust her friend's words, then her friends were fighting an incredibly dangerous threat. Or are about to, at the very least.

And all that Ruiko could do was sit in her room and hope that her friends would be safe out there.

"I don't like this… I don't like this at all…" Ruiko murmured to herself, somehow starting to remember how she felt when she used the Level Upper only two months ago. And when the power that was bestowed upon her was taken away from her again.

Ruiko knew better than anyone how the victims of this person were feeling right now, and yet all that she could do was sit on the sidelines and pray for the safety of everybody around her.

"No! There has to be something that I can do to help everyone!" Ruiko tried to reassure herself, looking around her room to find the answer. She ended up looking around in a panic for a surprisingly long time, but she knew that it was worth it when she finally found it.

The one thing that only she could do.

* * *

"'Onee-sama, duck!' Misaka calls out in warning as Misaka takes another shot," Misaka 10032 readied her firearms and fired two beam-like shots from them. As soon as these blasts made contact with the concrete they exploded, covering the two electromasters' vision with a thick cloud of smoke and debris.

Both girls were still in the alley that they tried to use for a shortcut but now ended up having to fight with someone they've never seen before. The two were already at a big disadvantage, if only because they barely had any room to move in, and were continuously pushed back deeper into the alley.

Despite these hardships, they kept on going, and seeing Misaka 10032's blast do that much damage reinvigorated Mikoto.

"Nice shot!" Mikoto praised her sister with a sideways glance after the cloud of debris disappeared. As Mikoto joined Misaka 10032's side, she added, "Do you think that was enough?"

"'I do not even think that I hit my target, Onee-sama,' Misaka replies sadly as Misaka recalls seeing her target jump out of the way at the last moment," Misaka 10032 answered Mikoto's question while keeping her eyes peeled on where she knew her foe was. As Mikoto raised her senses to prepare herself for a counterattack, Misaka 10032 reloaded her weapons, "We might be in trouble if this keeps up, Onee-sama."

"Yeah… we have one chance," Mikoto added with a small smile, startling her sister slightly. Mikoto nodded in her direction, offering her open palm to her sister, "Let's do it. Generate as much electricity as you can, and I will take care of the rest."

"'But Misaka cannot generate as much electricity as you, Onee-sama,' Misaka says, reminding Onee-sama that Misaka is only a level three," Misaka 10032 said, wondering what Mikoto was planning to do. Misaka 10032 knew that Mikoto knows that their difference in power is huge, but even so…

"That doesn't matter, even if it is just a little bit extra it will do," Mikoto reassured her as she dug in her pocket to find what she was looking for. Mikoto smiled when her fingers curled themselves around the metallic object, and she held it up to allow it to shine in the dark alley.

"'How many times have you practiced using two electromasters to fire your Railgun, Onee-sama?' Misaka asks in curiosity as this idea of Onee-sama's seems reckless and dangerous," Misaka 10032 replied as she placed her hands on Mikoto's shoulders in slight hesitation. Misaka 10032 only heard of the fearsome power behind the third strongest level five's signature attack, knowing that the few times Mikoto had used it in front of her were not at full power, but to add even more firepower behind that…

"This will be my first," Mikoto replied nonchalantly without looking back, knowing full well that she needed to keep all of her attention on her target in front. Despite this, she managed to add in a relatively steady voice, "When I give the signal, generate as much electricity as you can and direct it at me. Don't worry about putting in too much, the more electricity the better."

"Onee-sama…"

Unfortunately for Misaka 10032, Mikoto's attention was already focused on something else entirely. It had been quite some time since Misaka 10032 fired her weapons, but there was still enough debris to obscure their enemy from view.

And Mikoto was adamant to find their enemy before their enemy found them.

It remained quiet for a very long time, and with two of Mikoto's senses effectively disabled she didn't have any choice left. She closed her eyes, raised her right hand to point it in front of her, and focused.

A very faint but still recognizable signal came back to Mikoto, and she grinned.

"NOW!" Mikoto yelled at the top of her lungs, flicking the coin high into the air with her thumb as her body became enveloped with electricity. With the additional boost from Misaka 10032, Mikoto almost lost her concentration completely when the overwhelming amount of energy surged through her body.

She knew that she had one shot with this, so Mikoto made sure that she would make it count. Directing all of the electricity to her right hand, she flicked her thumb right as the coin landed on top of it.

With the two electromasters giving it everything that they got, the coin was sent firing forward with a destructive force unlike any other. The resulting explosion of when the Railgun hit spewed smoke and debris up tens of meters into the air.

"Surely, this time it should—" Mikoto began as she saw the damage that was done by their joint attack, but then stopped mid-sentence. She saw movement through the cloud, and she knew what meant.

"'Onee-sama, be careful,' Misaka warns as Misaka sees the enemy moving through the dust," Misaka 10032 muttered, the familiar sound of her weapons getting readied coming from the direction of her hands, "This fight is far from over."

"How right you are…" an eerie voice said, one that Mikoto and Misaka 10032 could only assume came from their enemy on the other side of the explosion.

The smoke slowly but surely cleared, allowing Mikoto and Misaka 10032 to see the damage that they had done. The blast from the combined Railgun had formed a huge crater in the middle of the alley, something that Mikoto hoped and prayed would not be traced back to her.

But what the attack _didn't_ do was take care of its intended target. The third person in the alley, albeit hurt significantly from the shockwaves alone, was still able to stand on both of their feet.

It was only now that Mikoto and Misaka 10032 could have a good look at the person who they were fighting against. The first that they noticed was that the girl they were facing was tall, standing well above Mikoto. She had long brown hair that was tied in a high ponytail, with two strands of hair framing either side of her face. This made her look only a couple of years older than Mikoto.

Despite the attack not doing enough damage to finish her off, it did manage to weaken her considerably. With her clothes dirtied and several fresh cuts on her skin, it was clear that she had only managed to avoid the brunt of the attack at the last second.

"So that was the power of a level five, huh? How interesting… I've only fought level threes so far, so fighting you is a treat… Tokiwadai's… Railgun!" the person said, showing a creepy smile as their silver-colored eyes locked on their targets, "But that makes it all the better when I take it away from you!"

"You can't take away esper powers, that's ridiculous!" Mikoto exclaimed both shocked that that claim was being made and worried about the small minuscule chance that, perhaps, their words weren't a lie. For some reason, Mikoto's mind drifted off to her urban legend-loving friend; this seemed like something that she would be very into.

"Well, we're about to find out, aren't we?" the mysterious girl exclaimed, dashing towards the two girls at full speed before either Mikoto or Misaka 10032 could do anything in response.

She didn't come very far, however, as a long and sturdy javelin impaled the ground right in front of her. This didn't just surprise the mysterious girl but also the two electromasters.

That was when two familiar figures jumped down from the roofs in between the combatants, making their presence known to everybody. Originally caught off-guard, Mikoto was surprisingly overjoyed to see and recognize who had joined the fight.

"Do not take another step! In the name of Judgment, and as Onee-sama's right-hand girl, I will not allow you to walk away with everything that you have done!"

"If you want to get to Misaka-san, you have to get through us first! But will you continue to fight despite knowing that your opponent is I, Kongou Mitsuko?"

Kuroko and Mitsuko had finally caught up to Mikoto.

* * *

 **And that wraps up today's chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time! Take care!**


	5. The Sacrifice

**Well, here we are once again. Hope everyone's enjoying it so far, so without further ado…**

 **I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun**

* * *

"Well, we're about to find out, aren't we?" the mysterious girl exclaimed, dashing towards the two girls at full speed before either Mikoto or Misaka 10032 could do anything in response.

She didn't come very far, however, as a javelin impaled the ground right in front of her. This didn't just surprise the mysterious girl but also the two electromasters.

That was when two familiar figures jumped down from the roofs in between the combatants, making their presence known to everybody. Originally caught off-guard, Mikoto was surprisingly overjoyed to see two of her friends.

"Don't take another step! In the name of Judgment, and as Onee-sama's right-hand girl, I will not allow you to walk away like that!"

"If you want to get to Misaka-san, you have to get through us first! But will you continue to fight despite knowing that your opponent is I, Kongou Mitsuko?"

Kuroko and Mitsuko had finally caught up to Mikoto.

Although the arrival of Kuroko and Mitsuko was not an unwelcome one, Mikoto had to ask herself why they were or here or how they could have found her. There wasn't a single security camera in sight, and Mikoto was certain that she didn't tell anyone where she was going today.

"Kuroko… Kongou-san… what are you two doing here?" Mikoto asked, still trying to register what had just happened. As Kuroko was busy trying to remove the javelin from the ground, Mitsuko turned around and smiled at Mikoto.

"You see, Misaka-san, we heard that there is someone out there who could steal our powers from us. We can't let them take Misaka-san's powers, either," Mitsuko said with a smile, but then turned serious as she faced their opponent, "You are going to pay for what you did to Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san! Do you hear me?!"

"Awatsuki-san… and Wannai-san…" Mikoto trailed off as she tried to piece the broken story together for herself. It wasn't long until Mikoto finally realized what was going on, "Don't tell me…"

"It is as you fear, Onee-sama," Kuroko said with a grimace, not turning to look Mikoto in the eyes. Despite this, both girls knew each other well enough to know what expression was on the other's face, "Ever since running into her last night, neither Awatsuki-san nor Wannai-san have been able to use their powers."

"They what?!" Mikoto exclaimed horror, finally realizing just how big of a fight this was going to be. Furious, Mikoto turned to the person she had been fighting all this time, "Why?! Why are you doing this?! What's the point of taking away the powers that espers work hard to gain?!"

Instead of answering Mikoto's question directly, the girl merely sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. When she spoke again, her voice sounded dangerously low; something that did not go unnoticed by anyone there.

"So it's true…" the mysterious girl muttered, almost as if to just herself, before turning to Mikoto with a menacing glare in her eyes, "You're one of only seven level fives in this city, and yet even you don't know the horrors that the higher ups in the city make espers go through? If you're asking me, I am doing everybody a favor by helping them get away from that fate."

"Nobody asked you!" Mitsuko shouted angrily, gently tapping on the ground to force a huge ball of concrete in the air before sending it forward. Mitsuko smirked as her attack hit its mark, "What do you have to say about yourself now, hm?"

"That you are a pitiful excuse for an esper," the sound of the girl's voice startled Mitsuko, but the fact that she had missed her earlier attack surprised her even more. Shaking her head, Mitsuko soon saw that she was wrong… she didn't miss her attack, it just never hit its mark; Mitsuko's target stood several steps behind the crater in the ground, seemingly unharmed, "If you can't even defeat me, how would you even go about making a difference in this cursed city?"

"We already told you that we don't want to hear it!" this time it was Kuroko's turn and, teleporting needless into the gaps of her fingers, she started to throw them all at once. Kuroko even made sure that she would teleport some of them into her target's body.

However, just like every other attack that they had tried, Kuroko's didn't do much to flinch their enemy. Not when the needless missed their intended target completely and definitely not when they landed harmlessly a meter to her right.

"What happened?!" Kuroko exclaimed, seriously shocked that she had missed. She was sure that her aim was accurate, and she had even teleported some of the needless straight into the girl's body in case they weren't. Every last one of her needless had missed, something that never happened to her before.

"'None of our attacks can work against her,' Misaka says as Misaka finally figured out what is going on," Misaka 10032 said, putting her goggles back on top of her head as she turned to Mikoto and her friends, "It is not that our attacks have missed her. It is that she has been dodging them at the last second."

"At the last second, you say? So even—?" Mikoto tried to ask, but Misaka 10032 had already nodded in confirmation before Mikoto got to finish. Upon hearing this revelation, Mikoto added with a worried tone, "To think that someone can dodge my Railgun like that… what kind of ability does she have that allows her to do that?"

"'I do not know the answer to that, Onee-sama,' Misaka apologizes."

"So what do we—?" Mitsuko began, turning around to look at Misaka 10032 before she felt a rough shove on her left.

"Look out!" Kuroko cried out, having successfully pushed Mitsuko to the side and using her momentum to fall back as well. Mitsuko, originally wondering what Kuroko was doing, soon figured it out.

The girl had somehow closed the distance between her and them, and her outstretched hand was in the space where Mitsuko head had been if it weren't for Kuroko pushing Mitsuko to safety. The girl cursed silently, but that was just enough to break her focus.

Kuroko jumped back in and placed her hand on the girl's arm, making very quick mental calculations before the girl disappeared completely. A split second later, she was tumbling down from the air and fell in the crater that was formed from the joint-attack by Mikoto and Misaka 10032 only moments ago.

As she was slowly trying to get back on her feet, the girl looked up from her spot on the ground to glare daggers in Kuroko's direction. But that stopped quickly when she saw what was pinned on Kuroko upper arm.

"I see… you must be that Judgment teleporter I've heard so much about…" the girl muttered angrily as she dusted herself off. Despite how high she was just forced to fall, she didn't seem too hurt about it; something that was unsettling Kuroko, "Though I'm sure that even you would not know what this city is doing right in front of your eyes, now do you?"

"I can see somebody forcefully taking away the powers of innocent espers all across the city!" Kuroko yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at the girl before pulling on her armband to emphasize the shield depicted on it, "And as a member of Judgment, I will not let you get away with this!"

"Is that so?" the girl cackled as she stepped forward, clearly not worried about the threats that Kuroko had made at her expense. Mikoto, Misaka 10032, and Mitsuko were all weary as well, getting into a fighting stance to prepare themselves for the worse.

"'Onee-sama, get ready,' Misaka says as Misaka notices a slight twitch in our foe's body, likely an indication that she is getting ready to attack again," Misaka 10032 warned those around her as she took out both of her guns. The other three girls looked up and saw that Misaka 10032 was right.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

* * *

"Let's see…" Kazari muttered to herself as her fingers typed away at blinding speeds. She was still in the office of the other branch from Judgment and, at her request, was borrowing their computer.

Something that Kazari was very thankful for was that whoever designed these Judgment offices did not have a lot of creativity; this office's layout was identical to the one that Kazari used. As a result, Kazari almost felt completely at home in this office. Almost.

"Uiharu-san, is everything going well?" a gentle voice came from Kazari's right, startling the girl slightly but not enough for it to have been obvious. When Kazari looked up, she saw the smiling face of the leader of the one-hundredth-and-eighty-first branch of Judgment.

Somehow, Kazari noted to herself, she reminded her a lot of Mii.

"Yes, everything is going well," Kazari replied, but then realized what she was saying, "I mean, we still have to worry about this person that Shirai-san and Kongou-san are looking for, but at the very least we have found Misaka-san thanks to the help of Saten-san."

"Misaka-san?" the girl asked in shock, something that Kazari had been expecting. When she had opened her mouth again, Kazari stopped her.

"Yes, _that_ Misaka Mikoto-san," Kazari clarified, eliciting a small gasp from the other girl as a result. While trying to suppress a smile, Kazari let her eyes wander around the room a bit when they landed on a drawer just above her, "Is it okay if I go through it? Maybe I can find something that can help us with this now."

"Of course! You can use anything in this room freely, Uiharu-san," the girl said quickly with a smile before helping Kazari to get the entire drawer down on the table for easier access, "Allow me to help. What are we looking for, exactly?"

"Shirai-san said that Awa—two friends of ours had run into this person last night and still can't use their powers," Kazari explained, almost having slipped Maaya's and Kinuho's names. Thankfully, the other girl didn't bring this up again, so Kazari decided to count her blessings and added, "Maybe there are some recent reports about similar cases that we can use in there."

"Leave it to me!" the leader of this office of Judgment said confidently, already pulling the drawer to her, "And while I do that, Uiharu-san can try and look through the database to see if we can find anything there."

"Right! Thank you very much!" Kazari said, receiving a wave of the hand in response. Smiling, Kazari went back to the computer screen and typed away.

Reports… Articles… Unofficial forum posts… Anything that Kazari could use in order to find more information about this person with a relentless ability was what she was looking for. And to make matters worse, Kazari knew that she was very short on time.

Kazari knew that Mikoto was somewhere out there, and she didn't know what kind of dangers lurked in the shadows. Kazari knew that Kuroko and Mitsuko were willingly jumping into harm's way to try and save Mikoto if she were to run into this dangerous person.

And, Kazari swallowed painfully as she remembered what Kuroko had said not too long ago, Kazari knew that there were already victims. Likely much more than they know of right now.

"Uiharu-san! Uiharu-san!"

Kazari was shaken out of her trance-like state by the leader of this office, the taller girl holding several folders in her hands as she appeared to be panicking.

"W-What's wrong?" Kazari asked, shifting in her seat so that she was sitting upright again. The look on the other girl's face told her that whatever it is that she found, it was something big.

"Please take a look at this!" the girl said as she put the folders in front of Kazari, having already opened them to make it easier for Kazari to read through the reports.

Kazari did as she was told, taking out a surprisingly large stack of papers from the first folder before opening them and spreading them out on the table. Kazari only had enough time to quickly check the titles, but that was all that she needed in order to know.

"This is…"

* * *

"Shirai-san!" Mitsuko yelled before she broke into a sprint and began running forward as fast as she could.

Upon hearing her name, Kuroko nodded and teleported away, the signature sound of her ability resonated through the alley. A split second later, a broken car teleported in front of Mitsuko.

"All right, here it comes!" Mitsuko announced, placing an open palm on the surface of the car, making the vehicle rocket forward at blinding speeds, "Misaka-san!"

"You ready?" Mikoto asked, to which Misaka 10032 nodded in confirmation. Together, the two girls tried their previous combination attack once again. The only difference between then and now was that the object that they would use for the Railgun was much larger than a measly coin.

As the car closed its distance with the two girls, Mikoto and Misaka 10032 punched the hood of the vehicle with everything that they got simultaneously. This caused them to fire the car with destructive force at their enemy akin to a powered-up Railgun. Akin to an incredibly powered-up Railgun unlike any that Mikoto had fired before.

The force of the explosion sent shockwaves all across the alley, forcing all girls to brace themselves so as to not be sent flying. When they opened their eyes again, they saw what their combined attack had accomplished.

Pipes and metal plates had fallen down from the walls, creating a mountain of rubble that cut off their side of the alley with their enemy's. There was a surprisingly large dent in one of the walls, showing the girls where their attack had landed.

More importantly, the four girls had created some breathing space for themselves. While they couldn't confirm whether or not they had taken their enemy down, the rubble had at least cut them off from the girl that they had been fighting.

Mikoto was about to step forward when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder.

"Misaka-san, what do you think you're doing?" Mitsuko asked, in both a worried and a shocked voice. The same expression was shared by both Kuroko and Misaka 10032, though before Mikoto could fully process this Mitsuko had continued, "We can't beat her like this. We have to go back while we can!"

"But—" Mikoto began, but she was stopped before she could finish her sentence.

"As much as I hate to admit this, Kongou-san is right, Onee-sama," Kuroko said with a sigh as she suddenly appeared by their side. Looking between them and the pile of rubble not too far away, she added with a frown, "We are outmatched. We need to retreat and think of a better way to fight her than just randomly throw our attacks at her. And… hope that she does not run into any other esper in the meantime."

"'I would like to agree with the opinions of Onee-sama's friends,' Misaka says as Misaka, too, believes it is best to run today," Misaka 10032 added, taking a second to look at both Mitsuko and Kuroko, "In addition, none of us are at our strongest right now. This also is not a good place for any of us to be fighting as we are too restrained here."

"…Fine," Mikoto muttered through gritted teeth, taking one last look at where their enemy had been before turning to Kuroko, "Do you think you can teleport us all a safe distance away before she comes out of that?"

Before Kuroko could respond, however, a sudden sound caught the girls' attention. To their horror, the four girls saw the pile of rubble in front of them tremble before it collapsed in itself and blew up a thick cloud of dust in the air.

As the dust started to settle, their enemy slowly but surely stepped into view.

"Even that wasn't enough…" Mikoto trailed off in shock, but she knew that she was only half right.

The girl was panting heavily, holding her stomach with one hand and wiping off a trail of blood that ran down her face with the other. Unfortunately for her, her face wasn't the only part of her body that got hit, as her arms and legs were also dyed red in her blood.

Their attack wasn't enough to take her down, that much was already obvious. However, it still did a considerable amount of damage to her body, and all of them knew that she was close to her limits as well. Perhaps enough to give them the edge in this upcoming fight.

"That… was better than I thought… it would be… I must say that… I'm impressed…" the girl managed to say while trying to regain her strength. The amount of willpower that she had to keep standing and coming at them was astounding them all, but this surprise was buried as she began talking again with a dark look in her eyes, "But that doesn't mean… that this fight is over… no… far from it!"

"She sure is determined," Mitsuko mused, still slightly startled by what she had just witnessed. Mitsuko wasn't the only one who felt that way, however, as both Mikoto and Kuroko were also silently watching the girl come closer to them.

Only one of them was keeping her cool.

 _"'Misaka may have found something that you might want to know, Misaka 10032,' Misaka 19090 says as Misaka shares her recent findings on the Misaka Network."_

Misaka 10032 took a step back from the battlefield, not necessarily because she wanted to create distance between her and her enemy but because she needed to concentrate. Misaka 19090 had peaked her interest, and Misaka 10032 was listening intently to hear the rest of the story.

When the other sisters had finished her story, Misaka 10032 was overwhelmed by comments from the other Misakas on the Misaka Network. So much so that she didn't realize what was happening around her.

"Now what do we do, Onee-sama?" Kuroko asked as she moved closer to Mikoto to allow her to talk in a softer voice. Mitsuko had moved closer as well to try and join their little conversation.

Of course, removing their attention on her meant that the girl that they had been fighting all this time was given the opportunity to regain her breathing. And it was at an alarming rate that she did so, too.

"We don't have a choice…" Mikoto sighed, pushing Kuroko and Mitsuko back behind her and stepping forward, surprising both girls in the process, "Kuroko, take the other two away to safety. I'll buy you as much time as I can."

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko called out, trying to catch up to Mikoto but being forcefully pushed back to stop her from doing so. When Kuroko opened her mouth to try and protest, she was stopped before a single word could be uttered.

"You keep calling me Tokiwadai's Ace, and maybe I am… maybe I'm not… but if you still believe that I am then I have to start acting like one," Mikoto said with a smile as she turned to look at Kuroko, "I need you to bring everybody to safety, all right? Can I trust you, Kuroko?"

"Onee-sama…" Kuroko breathed out, rather painfully as she saw the person she admired and loved turn back around. Kuroko knew what this meant, but she still didn't want to accept this reality.

"Now hurry, Kuroko!" Mikoto exclaimed, dusting off her own clothes before sprinting forward.

Mikoto did not come far, however. Something grabbed her left wrist to stop her in her tracks before a hand was placed flat on Mikoto's stomach. The next thing that the strongest electromaster knew was that she was flying backward at a high speed, only coming to a stop when she collided with a startled Kuroko.

"What was…?" Mikoto groaned as she tried to see what had happened to her. Making sure that Kuroko was all right below her, Mikoto's eyes drifted up.

What Mikoto ended up seeing was Mitsuko standing firm on the ground while holding one hand with the other. And that was when Mikoto realized what had just happened.

"Kongou-san, what are you doing?" Mikoto managed to say as she tried to get back on her feet. Unfortunately, she couldn't do so fast enough as Mitsuko was already well out of Mikoto's reach by the time that she did.

"Misaka-san said so herself, right? Misaka-san is Tokiwadai's ace… that's why we need Misaka-san in our final battle against her," Mitsuko explained casually, almost as if she had been ready to say that for months, "Shirai-san, please bring everybody to safety. If there is somebody who should buy everyone some time it will be I, Kongou Mitsuko!"

"But you—" Mikoto tried to talk Mitsuko out of it, but was once again stopped; this time by Misaka 10032 who gently pushed Mikoto to Kuroko.

"'Please bring Onee-sama to safety as soon as possible,' Misaka says as Misaka wants Onee-sama to be safe," Misaka 10032 said in a calm voice that sounded surprisingly urgent as well. Kuroko took a second to look Misaka 10032 in the eyes but begrudgingly nodded regardless after several seconds had passed.

As soon as she was sure that Mikoto was safe with Kuroko, Misaka 10032 stepped forward to stand by Mitsuko's side, "Misaka may not be able to help much, but until Onee-sama is safe Misaka will help in whatever way Misaka can."

Mitsuko nodded, silently thankful that she would not be left completely alone in this alley to fight the girl several meters away. It wasn't long until both Mitsuko and Misaka 10032 heard the familiar sound of Kuroko's ability, signaling to them that they were gone.

"So you two aren't going to run away like the other two cowards?" a taunting voice caught the attention of both Mitsuko and Misaka 10032, and when the two girls turned in the direction of the voice they could see their enemy from earlier slowly make their way to them, "That's good… that means that I can take care of you two here before I have to worry about those two. Though it is a shame that the level five got away, I'll make do with you."

"Before we continue with this, I want to ask you something!" Mitsuko said loud and clear in an effort to be heard. Interpreting the slight pause in the girl's movement as a sign to continue, Mitsuko did exactly that, "What do you hope to achieve by doing all of this? Why are you making innocent espers suffer?"

"Me? Make espers suffer?" the girl asked, basically spitting out her words right back at Mitsuko before ending up laughing maniacally. It took her a while to calm down enough to form a coherent sentence again, but Mitsuko and Misaka 10032 gave her that time whilst keeping their guards up, "If you seriously think that I am making espers suffer then I guess even fewer people know about it… the darker secrets of what is happening in Academy City, below the radar of the general public…"

"No matter what that dark secret is, it does not excuse you for what you have done!" Mitsuko exclaimed angrily as Misaka 10032 nodded sternly in agreement, clenching her fists as the images of her hurt friends flashed through her memory, "Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san… and everybody else you've hurt… you didn't have the right to hurt any of them!"

"'Misaka thought that Misaka was doomed to a fate that she could never escape,' Misaka says as Misaka remembers those days," Misaka 10032 said with a disheartened look on her face. This revelation shocked Mitsuko, but Misaka 10032 did not let this affect her as she continued with a determined look on her face, "But Misaka managed to escape from it, so you can escape from yours as well."

A short silence followed after Mitsuko and Misaka 10032 tried to reach the heart of the girl across from them. And for a very hopeful but brief period of time, they were even starting to think that they did.

That brief period of time was always doomed to end.

"How naïve…" the girl trailed off with a dark look that neither Mitsuko nor Misaka 10032 could read, "If that is all there was to it, maybe. But I can't stop, even if it means putting all of Academy City against me! So move aside, I still have unfinished business with that Railgun girl."

"'If you want to get to Onee-sama, you have to get through me first!' Misaka announced as Misaka defiantly steps up to block your way," Misaka 10032 did exactly as she said she would do, spreading her arms wide to take up even more space in the already narrow alley.

 _"'You cannot face her, run while you can, Misaka 10032!' Misaka 10039 says worriedly, remembering the fight that had just happened."_

 _"'Misaka agrees with what Misaka 10039 had said; she is too strong for you, Misaka 10032' Misaka 13577 agrees, trying to persuade Misaka 10032 that running is a better option."_

 _"'If you fight her and lose your powers, Misaka 10032 will not be able to communicate with us through the Misaka Network,' Misaka 19090 reminds everyone that the Misaka Network is linked to our powers and shared brain wavelengths."_

 _"'Even if that is the case, Misaka has to try. For the person who helped us make a new start, our Onee-sama! Misaka has to buy as much time as possible for Onee-sama to get to safety!' Misaka says as Misaka stands her grou—"_

"Look out!"

The sudden yell brought Misaka 10032 back to reality, giving her just enough time to jump out of the way from what appeared to be a hurricane of glass shards. Misaka 10032 looked around to see what was happening only to see Mitsuko behind a pile of broken glass windows.

"Be careful, she can still fight apparently," Mitsuko shouted over in Misaka 10032's direction, receiving a quick nod of understanding from the brunette, "And we have to hold her off until Shirai-san—"

Mitsuko was interrupted when she heard a familiar sound beside her, signaling the return of the teleporter. She smiled as she shared eye contact with Kuroko, knowing what her return now meant.

"Sorry it took so long, I had to make sure that Onee-sama would not come running back here once I left her alone," Kuroko exclaimed quickly, conveniently leaving out how she had to tie Mikoto down in their shared room with an insulating fabric. Kuroko figured that that was a little trivia that nobody had to know.

"Good, now can you bring Misaka-san's sister to safety, Shirai-san?" Mitsuko asked, surprising both Kuroko and Misaka 10032 in the process; but in a different way. Both girls had already opened their mouths to try and protest, but Mitsuko didn't let them, "And before you ask, Shirai-san: yes, I am sure. Now go! I'll catch up with you later."

"All right…" Kuroko finally relented with a sigh, patting Mitsuko's shoulder twice before walking over to Misaka 10032's side, "You heard her, let's go."

"'But—!' Misaka tries, trying to show her concern for Kongou-san who is staying behind," Misaka 10032 looked anxiously between Kuroko and Mitsuko, only to look even more crestfallen when both girls shook their heads slowly.

"Sorry, but there isn't another way. And Kongou-san offered this willingly, so we have to trust her," Kuroko tried to reassure Misaka 10032, but she knew that she wasn't being very convincing. With a deep breath, Kuroko turned to look at the girl whose name she still did not know, "This is not over yet."

"We'll see about that, teleporter," the girl said menacingly right before Kuroko placed a gentle but surprisingly strong hand on Misaka 10032.

The next thing that Mitsuko knew, she heard the familiar sound of Kuroko's ability activating before both Kuroko and Misaka 10032 vanished. Mitsuko was glad, knowing that her friends were safe, but that was when it really hit her.

Mitsuko was now all alone with someone who could take away her powers in an instant. Mitsuko has been unable to even make her flinch and she herself was quickly running out of energy. To make matters worse for the level four, she was with someone who clearly could not care less who she was affecting.

"Are you sure that you won't regret not running with that teleporter?" the girl asked Mitsuko as she was cracking her knuckles, slowly but surely walking over to where Mitsuko was standing, "You know you're going to be losing your powers if you stay here with me."

"Even if that's so, I can't run away and risk letting you get to and hurt my friends!" Mitsuko announced, taking her fan and pointing it straight at the girl, "Now come and face me, Kongou Mitsuko, uh… let's see… what was your name again?"

"You're that desperate to know my name? Fine…" the girl sighed, though Mitsuko could see small hints of a smile forming on her lips. Before Mitsuko could sit back and think whether or not she had really seen it, the girl looked up at her with no sign of emotions left, "My name is Himura, now let's settle this!"

The girl, now revealed to be Himura, took off from the ground and dashed straight at Mitsuko. Mitsuko responded in kind, slamming her hand on whatever loose object she could reach and sending them at Himura. From broken screws to a ton of bricks, Mitsuko kept her offense up for as long as she could while she could.

But no matter what or how many objects Mitsuko sent Himura's way, Himura managed to skillfully dodge every last one of them. And even though her attacks were slowing Himura down, even Mitsuko could see that the gap between the two grew smaller and smaller as their battle continued.

"Why won't these hit her?" Mitsuko grumbled angrily to herself, already reaching her hand for the next object to propel at her opponent when she slipped. Mitsuko could see her fingers almost grazing the metal rod, but it was _just_ out of reach for her.

This did not go unpunished by Himura, who took this opening only too gladly. Within a second, she was already pinning Mitsuko down on the ground, eliciting a cry of shock and pain from the girl on the ground.

Once she regained her bearings again, Mitsuko tried to reach for Himura but found to her horror that Himura was two steps ahead of her. Mitsuko could not move either of her arms anymore, leaving her completely defenseless against the threat that was Himura.

"I must say that your ability was an interesting one, it's rare to find a good Aero Hand user these days… judging by how you propelled that car, you're a level four, aren't you?" Himura asked off-handedly as Mitsuko could only glare at her and wonder when she was going to take her powers. Himura smiled after a pause that lasted several seconds, "Well, it doesn't matter… in a few moments you'll return to being a level zero like all the others…"

"I don't usually do this, but you and your friends have peaked my interest," Himura continued as she casually looked down at the ground where Mitsuko was laying, "Do you have any last words while you're still an esper?"

"Now that you mention it, I actually do," Mitsuko said, somewhat surprising Himura. Even so, Himura kept her word and let Mitsuko say whatever was on her mind.

What Himura was not expecting was that Mitsuko was suddenly inhaling a deep breath of air. Left wondering what Mitsuko was planning, Himura just stood there, perplexed, before it hit her.

But at that point, Himura had already given Mitsuko too much time.

"SHIRAI-SAN!" Mitsuko shouted at the top of her lungs with what was starting to become a smirk.

Himura was already running towards Mitsuko, trying to reach her before it was too late. Unfortunately, Himura would find out the hard way what Mitsuko's plan really was.

The distinct sound of a teleporter rang through the alley before a brown blur appeared right beside the running Himura. Himura instinctively lashed out to her left, trying to hit whatever it was that was there but found to her horror that she had missed.

Instead, a hand was harshly pushed into Himura's side before Himura disappeared with another sound.

"Sorry I am late, I had to make sure we were well away before coming back," the newcomer said, walking over to Mitsuko and gently pulling her back on her feet. Smiling at her friend for being able to hang in there, Kuroko added, "Good work, Kongou-san."

"H-Heh, of course! She was no match for me, the great Kongou Mitsuko!" Mitsuko boasted, putting both of her hands on her waist and laughing heartily. She was about to say something else, but Himura chose that moment to drop by.

Landing in a disheveled mess not too far from the two girls, Himura looked up in a startled shock when she saw Kuroko. That was when simple shock turned into outright hatred.

"You! What are you doing here?!" Himura glared in Kuroko's direction, trying to struggle back on her feet when a sharp jolt of pain washed over her body. This surprised Himura enough to turn her focus away from Kuroko and Mitsuko and look at the source of her discomfort.

Kuroko was faster in pointing out what was wrong, however, but the teleporter wasn't fast enough to prevent Himura from seeing the ugly truth.

"You may have survived both falls, but you did not land so well this time," Kuroko pointed out, her eyes fixed on the leg of Himura that was twisted in an unnatural way, "And as for why I am back… I am here to pick up a friend."

Without saying another word, Kuroko placed her hand on Mitsuko's shoulder before the two of them teleported away, leaving Himura alone to suffer in the alley. As her fists clenched in pain, Himura managed to mutter four words through gritted teeth before she collapsed and lost consciousness.

"Curse you, Judgment's teleporter…"

* * *

 **And that wraps up today's chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until the next chapter in two weeks! Take care, everybody!**


	6. Planning a Return

**And here we are with the next chapter right away. I won't be wasting much of your time, let's get right to the chapter. But first…**

 **Disclaimer's the same as always in that I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun.**

* * *

"And that is exactly what happened," Kuroko finished, wanting to move but still being patched up by Mii in the Judgment office the following morning. The teleporter had dragged everybody here, from Kazari and Ruiko to even Maaya and Kinuho, to tell them of what had happened the previous night.

Despite the four girls having come out of that fight relatively unhurt, Kuroko and Mitsuko were still recovering from the exhaustion of overusing their abilities throughout it all. Mitsuko in particular, who had stayed behind and fought Himura longer, was forced to stay in a hospital bed to recover for the time being. Or so Maaya and Kinuho claimed Mitsuko was when they went to visit their friend earlier that morning.

Mikoto and Misaka 10032 were off in their own corner of the room but the latter still provided several recounts of the story to help Kuroko paint a better picture for those who weren't there from time to time. Misaka 10032 didn't say much, but it was enough for the other girls to understand and enough to be helpful.

Enough for them to understand just how bad the fight had been going.

"To think that had to happen the one time when I was out of the office…" Mii murmured to herself angrily, clearly upset at herself for being away when her juniors needed her the most. Looking up to Kazari before turning back to Kuroko with a painful smile, she added, "I'm sorry, Shirai-san, Uiharu-san."

"Do not worry, Konori-senpai, we were all in over our heads," Kuroko admitted as Mii did the finishing touches on the teleporter's bandages. Kuroko thanked her senior quickly before adding, "There was not anything that we could have done to make a difference. As much as I hate to admit it, she was good. She was able to dodge most of our attacks, the ones that she could not dodge did not seem like they did enough damage to her, and had she seen through our plan to escape sooner we would not have escaped in one piece."

"In other words, what Shirai-san is saying is that we are lucky nobody lost their abilities last night," Kazari finished, looking at Kuroko to see if she had understood things properly. When Kuroko nodded in confirmation, Kazari smiled bitterly before reluctantly adding, "Of course, Kongou-san got more hurt than we would have wanted last night…"

"'But she still has flaws that we can use,' Misaka says as Misaka brings up this point that she had been observing while fighting her," Misaka 10032 suddenly spoke up, catching the attention of everybody including Mikoto, "And Misaka is sure that Onee-sama noticed this as well. Did you not, Onee-sama?"

Flinching slightly after being put in the center of attention all of a sudden, Mikoto took a bit more time than she would have liked to regain her composure. As her friends were waiting anxiously, Mikoto nodded slowly before answering her sister's question, "I actually did. But before we get our hopes up, can you ask the others to look into this? Let's confirm this before we start saying things that may not even be true."

"'They have actually started three hours ago and are still investigating as we speak, Onee-sama,' Misaka informs Onee-sama after double checking," Misaka 10032 smiled before her focus was directed elsewhere. Nodding, she turned back to Mikoto, "And they also asked Misaka to ask Onee-sama when Onee-sama will come and visit them again. Misaka also agrees, despite enjoying more quality with Onee-sama lately, as it has been several days since Onee-sama last visited the other sisters."

Mikoto was not expecting this, and Misaka 10032 was visibly taking great amusement in seeing her Onee-sama so flustered. While Misaka 10032 was not the only one of the sisters who understood why Mikoto had not been visiting lately, it did not take away from the sheer enjoyment that was watching Mikoto stutter.

"But going back to the problem right now, what should we do?" Kazari asked, taking away the attention that had been on Mikoto, much to the electromaster's relief, before adding, "Kongou-san is in the hospital, and Shirai-san did not come out of that battle unhurt, either. Even Misaka-san and Misaka-san's sister are hurt."

"For now, may I suggest staying back and looking up information about that girl?" Maaya suddenly brought up, albeit slightly hesitantly so, "As Uiharu-san had just said, we do not know enough right now. And while Kongou-san and Shirai-san take some time to recover, we can spend that time trying to find out more about her."

"I agree, we can't afford to let you all jump into a fight with her head-first," Mii said, somehow managing to sound both worried and stern at the same time, "Last night's fight might have ended up all right for you, but none of you came out of that completely unhurt. To make matters worse, now she knows what you're all capable of. She knows what to watch out for. And she will be ready for when the next fight comes."

"But we also need to hurry," Kazari added, looking at Kuroko with a serious look, "I managed to convince the one-hundredth-and-eighty-first branch yesterday, and they promised to help us, but it will take time to get the word out. Until then, every esper in this city is in danger."

"And of course, we can't forget about you two," Mii smiled at Maaya and Kinuho, both girls not expecting to be addressed so soon, "We still need to find a way to help you two get your abilities back. Until then, please wait a little longer."

"Please, don't worry about us," Kinuho said quickly as Maaya nodded in agreement, "Just be careful when you go after her again."

"About that…" Ruiko trailed off, finally saying something after having been quiet for so long. The level zero esper talked to the group as a whole, but it seemed like she was directing most of her words to Kuroko, "Do we even have any leads of where to start looking?"

There was a short period of silence that followed after Ruiko had finished where everybody was thinking. They knew that there had to be something that they could use to narrow their searches.

"Uiharu, can I count on you?" Kuroko said suddenly as she searched through her pockets. This peaked the interest of everybody there, but none more so than Misaka 10032 when Kuroko had finally found what she was looking for, "Her name is Himura, she's about the age of Konori-senpai from the looks of things, maybe a bit older, and has brown hair that she tied into in a ponytail. And we also have this, if that can be helpful."

All that Kazari could do was stand there perplexed, watching as Kuroko was quickly listing off a list of characteristics. When someone finally spoke again, it wasn't Kazari, however.

"'Is that what Misaka thinks it is?' Misaka asks in shock as Misaka looks at what you have in your hand," Misaka 10032 slowly stepped forward, her eyes fixated on Kuroko's hand for some reason. A small device was in Kuroko's hand; a small device that Misaka 10032 took a considerable amount of time to identify.

When she finally did, however, it all made sense for Misaka 10032.

"'So you had that all planned out from the beginning?' Misaka asks in amazement as Misaka silently wonders why Onee-sama could not have that kind of foresight."

"Hey!"

Kuroko smirked as she twirled the object casually in her hand, allowing the other girls to see what was there. That was when they saw that Kuroko was holding what appeared to be a music player, but that still wasn't enough to answer the questions of the others in the room.

"What do you mean 'so you had that all planned out'?" Ruiko asked, still unsure of what was going on and being the first to be able to voice her curiosity.

"You are right, though; we _did_ plan at least that much beforehand, because we knew that we were in for a big fight," Kuroko smirked as she turned to Misaka 10032, effectively ignoring Ruiko almost completely, "That's why Kongou-san and I thought up of this plan before we arrived on the scene. Actually, no, it was completely Kongou-san's idea."

"You recorded the fight…" Mikoto breathed out in amazement as she finally realized what had happened as well. Kuroko nodded in satisfaction, receiving several words of praise from some of her friends.

But something was still bothering someone.

"Would the recording devices that Judgment has still work?" Ruiko brought up suddenly before looking at Mikoto, "No offense, Misaka-san, but there _was_ a lot of electricity right? So wouldn't the devices malfunction as a result?"

"I mean… you're not wrong there, Saten-san…" Mikoto finally admitted with a guilty smile as she remembered the amount of electricity that she had generated the previous night. Now curious as well, Mikoto turned to her roommate, "How _did_ you get those recording devices to work, anyway?"

"I guess there is a good thing about safekeeping old devices…" Kuroko trailed off with an awkward smile, but she had already told enough for her friends to understand what was happening. With a shrug, Kuroko showed what she was holding to her friends, "It's just an old analog sound recorder, or that's what Kongou-san said it was. It still did the job, though, as you can hear what happened quite clearly. We're lucky that Kongou-san had one on hand."

"So that's why…" Mikoto said as she looked at it, impressed at how far her junior had thought ahead for the fight, "Good job, Kuroko!"

"Ah! Onee-sama!" Kuroko cried out in happiness, about to jump at Mikoto and glomp her in a hug when something pulled her back by the collar. When Kuroko looked around to see who or what had stopped her, the teleporter's eyes landed on Misaka 10032, "W-What are you doing?"

"'Before you go and attack Onee-sama, we have more urgent matters at hand,' Misaka says as Misaka reminds you and tries to get you back on track," Misaka 10032 deadpanned before letting go off Kuroko and turning to the group, "Now, if you would excuse me… Misaka wants to try and see if the others have gotten anywhere and help where she can."

Once she had said her goodbyes, Misaka 10032 bowed in the general direction of the others before leaving the room without another word. Her exit was so sudden that nobody could react in time before Misaka 10032 had already left them.

After Misaka 10032 had left the room, a period of silence followed where nobody knew how to break it. Eventually, Kinuho stood up, though she seemed rather hesitant to do so.

"W-Well… Awatsuki-san and I should go now, too," Kinuho said awkwardly, turning to Maaya who nodded in agreement. Before the two of them said their goodbyes, however, Kinuho quickly added, "We want to go and visit Kongou-san and see how she is doing, hopefully she already feels a lot better now after a night's worth of rest."

"Ah, right!" Mikoto exclaimed suddenly, remembering something important. She ran to the back of the room but returned soon after while carrying a small bag that Mikoto offered Kinuho, "It may not be much, but this is for Wannai-san and Awatsuki-san. And please send our regards and well wishes to Kongou-san; we'll try to visit her later, but this is for now so Kongou-san doesn't feel too left alone."

"Of course, and thank you, Misaka-san," Maaya smiled as Kinuho gratefully accepted the bag from Mikoto. The two girls bid their farewells and were quick to follow Misaka 10032's lead from a few moments ago.

This left only five people in the room who had to deal with a painfully long silence. They knew what they had to do, but they were all waiting for somebody else to make the first move.

"So… what did Shirai-san record in that?" Kazari asked, finally finding the words needed to try and break the silence, "And how do you think that we can use that?"

"The Judgment databases also have voice samples, so if we can match Himura's voice with someone in the database then maybe we can find out more about her," Kuroko explained, turning to her senior for confirmation. When Mii nodded, Kuroko turned back to Kazari with a smile, "Can I count on you to do this, Uiharu?"

"I have a description of how she looks like, her name, and a voice sample…" Kazari trailed off as she counted the resources that she had. After a second of deliberation, Kazari turned back to Kuroko, "I'm sure that I can do it, and with all of these search criteria it shouldn't take me too long. I'll do my best!"

Taking the device off of Kuroko's hands, Kazari hurried over to the computers in the back to start her search. Once Kazari was out of hearing distance, Mii turned to Kuroko with a surprisingly stern look on her face.

"I can't stop you from fighting this Himura girl again when we have found out more about her, but until that time comes I need you to stay in your dorm and _rest_ ," Mii said, making sure that there was nothing about her that could imply that she meant anything less, "This is a direct order, all right Shirai-san?"

"But Konori-senpai, Shirai-san was the main reason why everybody got out of it unhurt; she's our main weapon against that Himura girl. I know that Shirai-san needs to recover, but if Shirai-san isn't here when we need her, then—" Ruiko went off before anyone else could respond to Mii's announcement. She didn't get to go very far, however, as Mii placed a reassuring hand on Ruiko's shoulder.

"You're right; Shirai-san is vital when we fight Himura, in both the last one and the next," Mii said with a smile and, when she saw that Ruiko was about to say something else, she quickly added "But that is exactly why I asked Shirai-san to take it easy and rest for the time being. What do you think will happen if we forced Shirai-san to stay around in this state and we _desperately_ need her when the time comes?"

"You two understand it too, right? Misaka-san? Shirai-san?" Mii finished as she turned to look at the two girls behind her, "So, Shirai-san, please rest for now. We'll take care of looking more into this Himura girl while you do so, so there isn't anything for you to have to worry about."

"All right…" Kuroko finally relented, slightly surprising her friends as to how fast she had accepted it. Even so, Kuroko turned to Ruiko before dragging her out, "Saten-san, may I have a word with you, please? Let's go outside for a bit."

Before Ruiko could say or do anything, she was already finding herself outside looking perplexed as to why she was there. The fact that Kuroko seemed desperate to talk with her and _just_ her didn't help make it easier for Ruiko.

As Ruiko could see several falling leaves twirl down to the underground just outside, she was still waiting for an explanation. Eventually, she finally got it.

"Saten-san, I need to ask you a favor," Kuroko said, sounding surprisingly serious; much more so than Ruiko usually know her as. It wasn't long until Kuroko revealed why she was, "You know how Onee-sama is. Could you please keep an eye on her for me today so that she does not run off on her own again?"

"Shirai-san…" Ruiko trailed off before Kuroko's words had truly registered in her mind. Trying her hardest to not burst out laughing, knowing full well that Kuroko was making a very good point, Ruiko nodded, "I will try. Now, Shirai-san, make sure to get enough rest, all right?"

As Kuroko nodded to show that she would, the door behind the two girls opened and Mikoto stepped out. Mikoto was slightly shocked to see that her friends were right outside, but did not let it bother her for too long, "Kuroko, let's go. I'm bringing you back to Tokiwadai's dorm and telling the school nurse that you're sick."

"Onee-sama… such actions are completely unnecessary," Kuroko whined, looking slightly deflated as she followed Mikoto down the stairs. Despite how she might be feeling about it, Kuroko accepted her fate and didn't complain much aside from that.

"Well then… Kuroko and I will be heading home as well," Mikoto said with a small smile as she turned to Ruiko before nodding in the direction of the office's door, "Can I ask you to tell them that, Saten-san? I need to make sure that Kuroko gets her rest so she is ready for when we run into Himura again."

"Ah, r-right…" Ruiko muttered, not being able to say or do anything else as Mikoto escorted Kuroko down the stairs before disappearing from view. This left Ruiko in an awkward position.

Ruiko could go back inside and stay there with Kazari and Mii as the two girls from Judgment worked. She was tempted to do this, but knew that she should not be selfish; this Himura girl that Ruiko had been hearing a lot about was a real threat and Ruiko knew that her friends needed all the space to prepare themselves for their next fight with her.

Once again, and not for the first time that day, Ruiko felt completely powerless. All of her friends were fighting while putting their lives and abilities on the line and Ruiko could only sit on the sidelines and watch.

Ruiko knew that she had originally informed Kazari and Kuroko about the potential of a new threat in the city, but even that was insignificant. Even that wasn't enough to prepare anyone for what they had to face last night.

And to make matters worse, the only thing that Ruiko was able to do last night was—

That was when she remembered. The one thing that could save her friends and ease Ruiko's worries a bit about not being able to help. Because if this works, Ruiko was certain that she could make a difference.

"I'm sorry, Uiharu, Konori-senpai," Ruiko muttered to herself with one final look in the direction of the Judgment office's door. Ruiko straightened out her clothes and nodded, more to reassure herself than anything.

"But I am leaving now, too. And I have to hurry if I want to be able to do this."

* * *

Not too long after Ruiko had decided to take her leave as well, Maaya and Kinuho could see the hospital already. On any other day, the two girls may have been surprised to see the unusually large amount of people entering and exiting the building. Of course, today was not one of those days.

Maaya and Kinuho hurried over to the elevators, managed to catch one before it moved up to the next floor and were on their desired floor before they knew it. Since both girls had already come here that day, they could find their way to Mitsuko's room fairly easily.

It was Maaya who knocked on the door gently, Kinuho still having her hands full with the gift that Mikoto gave them. The two girls waited until they heard the sign that they could enter, but when they did they did not hesitate.

Maaya managed to open the door in such a way that it was both respectful as well as sudden, being fortunate enough to not crack the wall on the other side. As the two girls stepped in, Maaya awkwardly closing the door whilst making sure to do so carefully this time, they heard a familiar voice call out to them.

"Awatsuki-san! Wannai-san!"

A lot more hopeful than they would admit if they were asked, both Maaya and Kinuho looked around until their eyes locked on the hospital bed in the corner of the room. And in that hospital lay Mitsuko, hair slightly disheveled that told the visitors that she had just woken up but otherwise appeared to be doing fine.

"Not that I don't like seeing you two, but is it okay for you to be visiting me again?" Mitsuko asked as Maaya and Kinuho sat by her bed, the patient looking happy despite also being visibly surprised, "I mean, I'm doing just fine, and Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san could use this time for something else."

"Don't say that, Kongou-san," Maaya said, beating Kinuho in replying to Mitsuko's claims, "Kongou-san fought bravely, not just for our sakes but for the sakes of everyone."

"And Shirai-san and the others wouldn't be okay had Kongou-san not been there," this time it was Kinuho who spoke, receiving nods of agreement from her blue-haired friend before she continued, "So the least that we can do is come visit Kongou-san again and keep you company while you are still here."

"You two…" Mitsuko trailed off, trying her hardest to hold back the tears that threatened to form in the corners of her eyes. Managing to dry them subtly by thinking up the excuse that something was in her eyes, Mitsuko couldn't help but wonder out loud, "How are the others doing? Are they all right?"

"They are all fine, please don't worry about them Kongou-san," Maaya said quickly, trying to ease the worries of her bedridden friend, placing a reassuring hand on Mitsuko's shoulder, "Nobody got really hurt last night, but both Kongou-san and Shirai-san should take a bit of time to rest. And not push themselves too much."

"Awatsuki-san…" Mitsuko breathed out as she looked at her friend, happy to hear the good news. That was when her eyes landed on the object in Kinuho's hands, "Wannai-san, what's that?"

"Oh, Misaka-san gave this to us and asked us to give it to Kongou-san," Kinuho said as she offered the small bag to Mitsuko who accepted it with somewhat trembling hands, "Misaka-san and the others wished Kongou-san a quick recovery, and would also want to apologize for not being able to come visit Kongou-san yet."

"I see… so they are still trying to find ways to fight…" Mitsuko trailed off after cradling her gift as if it were her most valuable possession. She knew what this meant, and while she knew that she had to rest, Mitsuko also knew that she had to get better soon to try and help.

"I know what Kongou-san is thinking, but Kongou-san really needs her rest," Kinuho said suddenly, startling Mitsuko out of her train of thoughts and forcing the bedridden girl to look up. With a small smile, Kinuho added, "I recognize that look; Kongou-san is thinking of joining Misaka-san and Shirai-san in the next fight, right? Please don't if you are still not fully recovered. Even Shirai-san was told to take it easy after last night."

"Even Shirai-san was…" Mitsuko repeated, dumbfounded as she let Kinuho's words sink in. _That_ proud and dutiful Kuroko that Mitsuko had known and respected for so long had accepted her fate, so where would she, Kongou Mitsuko, be if she didn't?

"All right, I will…" Mitsuko finally relented with a small but determined nod. She was slightly hesitant about this decision at first, but when she saw the looks on both of her friends' faces that all changed. Mitsuko knew that she had made the right decision.

"That's good to hear. Thank you, Kongou-san," Kinuho smiled as Maaya excused herself to go to the bathroom. Once the two of them were alone, Kinuho added with a worried look, "Is there anything that Awatsuki-san or I can do for you, Kongou-san?"

Mitsuko took this opportunity to think about her options but she couldn't think of anything in particular. Even when Maaya came back two minutes later, Mitsuko still had not made up her mind.

But when Mitsuko looked in the concerned-filled eyes of both Maaya and Kinuho, Mitsuko knew. That was when Mitsuko was sure that she knew what she would request from her friends.

"Please keep me up to date with the progress that the others have made," Mitsuko said, sounding as serious as possible, "I may not be able to help them in any way like this, but at least I can support them, right?"

"You're right, Kongou-san," Kinuho replied with a smile as she stood up and straightened out her clothes a little bit. Maaya was soon to follow Kinuho's lead before turning back to Mitsuko.

"We will relay all the information that we get from Shirai-san and the others as soon as we can," Maaya announced with confidence in her voice as Kinuho nodded in agreement, "At the same time, please rest as much as you can, Kongou-san. We may need you when Shirai-san and Misaka-san jump back into the fight."

With a quick bow, the two visitors silently left the room and allowed Mitsuko to have some alone time once again. Maaya and Kinuho had decided to make this only a quick visit so as to allow Mitsuko more time to rest, but them coming here had the exact opposite effect that they had originally intended.

What Maaya and Kinuho had done was give Mitsuko more things to think about, making her more eager to get out of this hospital. The final nail in the coffin was when Mitsuko's friends revealed to her that the others were still trying to fight Himura.

"Misaka-san and Shirai-san, as well as Misaka-san's sister…" Mitsuko muttered to herself as she replayed the earlier conversation with Maaya and Kinuho in her head. She knew that she shouldn't be feeling this way, especially after having promised Maaya and Kinuho, but Mitsuko couldn't help herself.

She was feeling completely helpless.

* * *

"Konori-senpai, could you please take a look at this?" Kazari asked from across the room, waving frantically over at her senior who had just re-entered the room. Mii quickly shut the door behind her and hurried over to where Kazari was sitting in front of the computer.

"Sorry it took me so long, Uiharu-san," Mii apologized, placing the can of juice by Kazari's mouse before taking a seat beside her. As she scanned the computer screen for what it was that Kazari could have called her over for, Mii added, "What did you find?"

Kazari had opened up more windows on the computer than Mii knew was physically possible, severely obscuring every last one of them. Despite this, Kazari managed to effortlessly move around them.

It didn't take Kazari long to open up the window that she had wanted to find, one that appeared to be from a news outlet. Mii was starting to wonder why she didn't recognize the name, but that was when she saw.

"Uiharu-san, why are you showing me an article by a media company that has collapsed ten years ago?" Mii asked, a confused yet curious look on her face as she turned to face Kazari, "Weren't we supposed to look into this Himura girl that Misaka-san and Shirai-san were fighting last night?"

"It's what is _in_ the article that I wanted to show you, Konori-senpai," Kazari groaned, pointing at the computer screen in exasperation as Mii laughed sheepishly, "You might find this interesting."

"Right right…" Mii chuckled before leaning forward and reading the article in its entirety.

As Mii was reading through the contents of the article, Kazari took the can of juice that Mii had brought for her. Kazari took a sip and could see the change in Mii's expression as she delved further and further in the article, changing from genuine interest and curiosity to horror and anguish as time ticked on by.

"Uiharu-san, this is…" Mii trailed off, but Kazari did not need to hear the rest of the sentence to know what Mii was trying to say. Kazari already knew, having already read through the article before showing it to her senior.

"It is as you fear, Konori-senpai," Kazari replied, sounding surprisingly calm despite this astonishing revelation. Kazari moved back behind the computer before typing in several commands. That was when a new window popped up, one that Kazari was clearly waiting anxiously to show to her senior.

"And then there is this, Konori-senpai," Kazari said slowly as she moved out of the way, likely to allow Mii to see the screen more clearly.

Mii only needed less than a second to see what was so special about this one, and Kazari knew when that time had passed when Mii clasped both her hands in front of her mouth to muffle the scream.

* * *

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, however. Academy City has been known to stir up some dark secrets deep within, something that Mikoto and her friends were well aware of by this point in time. None of them were strangers to the dark side of Academy City as they have all had a small taste of it already.

In a different part of Academy City, a much darker and eerier part at that, a certain someone rose back on their feet. It had been several hours since they last stretched their legs, so doing it now meant that they had to suffer through minor pain in both of them.

Himura had finally managed to get herself back to her hiding space, even if it had meant crawling shamefully part of the way there. Despite her best efforts at dodging her opponents' attacks, she was apparently way in over her head when she stayed to fight four espers at a time. Four espers of which one was a level five esper.

"The first time I fought anything above a level three, and I just _had_ to face three of them at once. _And_ Tokiwadai's Railgun was there as well…" Himura grumbled, sounding somewhat angry at herself as she dipped a towel in the water and wrapping it around her left knee. She flinched slightly as the cold fabric made contact with her still closing wounds, but tried to keep the pressure on for as long as she could.

She didn't get to do what she wanted to do. She failed to take the esper powers of even one of the espers, even when she had so many opportunities to do so. Not to mention she got hurt quite badly, thanks to being unable to completely avoid the Railgun and being forced to fall from great heights twice by that annoying teleporter.

Himura groaned at the memory of her unsuccessful fight the previous night, but at the same time could not be saying that she was disappointed in it, either. She had survived a full-on fight against those four espers in a narrow area, even if she did get hurt significantly as a result.

More importantly, Himura managed to do more than just learn about the extent of her opponents' abilities. She made a statement about her own, and she was desperately hoping that this would give her the edge the next time that they meet.

Himura smiled to herself, closing her eyes and letting herself lean back against the wall behind her, "It won't be much longer now… just wait a little bit more and it will be done…"

* * *

 **And that wraps up today's chapter! I hope you all enjoyed, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until the next chapter in two weeks time! Take care!**


	7. The Findings

**So a quick response to the two guest reviewers (who I just saw… sorry about that…): no, there is no relation to what happened to Touma (or throughout Index as a whole) to this story. This story is set in the Railgun universe (which, I know, is kind of weird to say seeing as Railgun is set in the same place and time as Index, but… again, I am effectively ignoring everything that happened in Toaru Majutsu no Index that did not happen in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun in this story). Also, there's not going to be any Imagine Breaker Deus Ex Machina shenanigans; so if you've come for that then I am afraid this story is not for you.**

 **…You guys can probably already guess my opinion on the Imagine Breaker by now, huh? Oh well… I have nothing against Touma himself, let me make that clear. I just don't want him to appear in this story. Anyways, this response has gone on long enough, only one more thing left before we start today's chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun.**

* * *

The next couple of days came and went without anything out of the ordinary happening. Nobody was able to find out anything about Himura that was worth sharing with the others, Himura had not confronted any other esper since her little fight with Mikoto and her friends, and the news that espers were losing their abilities had yet to fully hit the civilians in Academy City.

Knowing that they managed to avoid a commotion did ease the worries of the members of Judgment, fearing for the worse if that did happen. At the same time, however, they were all relatively stressed out at their lack of success in finding answers. Despite them having all these resources to try and dig up the necessary information, none of them have made much progress.

"'And that is all there is to it, Onee-sama,' Misaka says as Misaka recounts what she had found," Misaka 10032 said nonchalantly, taking a sip of her milk tea while giving Mikoto some time to truly process what she had just said.

Misaka 10032 was met with a pleasant surprise when she opened her door that morning and saw Mikoto and Ruiko on the other side. If she were to believe Mikoto's story, the two of them were in the area and decided to come visit them. Ruiko's story, on the other hand, involved her dragging Mikoto here against her will.

Misaka 10032 was still unsure as to which story was factually correct but did not let this bother her. What mattered to her was that Mikoto finally came around to visit her and the other three sisters in the hospital and, Misaka 10032 noted as she looked at the others, she wasn't the only one who felt that way. She didn't even need to check the Misaka Network to be sure of that.

"So we really don't know?" Ruiko asked the sisters as a group. They knew that it wasn't because she wasn't paying attention earlier; she wanted to make sure that she had understood it correctly.

"'That is half correct,' Misaka says as Misaka silently chastises Misaka 10032 for not telling the complete story," Misaka 19090 said, glaring at Misaka 10032 who was conveniently off to get a new cup of milk tea for herself. With a sigh, Misaka 19090 turned to Ruiko and tried to answer her question, "It is not that we have not found anything yet, it is that we are still unsure of how accurate this is. We do not know how you all will react to this if we share something that may not be true."

Mikoto and Ruiko took a moment to share a look, and they both knew that the other was thinking the exact same thing. Mikoto especially, since she had used the Misaka Network on numerous occasions in the past as well, knew that her sisters were to be trusted.

"Please tell us," Mikoto said, Ruiko nodding along silently to show that she was on the same page as Mikoto. As the words left Mikoto's mouth, she couldn't help but remember how big of a help her sisters were for her in the past. She smiled, knowing that they wouldn't start letting her down now.

Now it was the sisters' turn to take a moment and think things over. Unlike with Mikoto and Ruiko, however, they had a way to silently communicate with one another thanks to the Misaka Network, keeping the visitors on their toes for what they were deciding on.

Finally, Misaka 13577 took a deep breath before looking Mikoto straight in the eyes.

"'When Onee-sama and Misaka 10032 were fighting this Himura, Misaka 10032 noticed something peculiar about her,' Misaka says as Misaka starts to tell the story, even though Misaka is still not completely sure whether this is a good idea," Misaka 13577 started, just in time for Misaka 10032 to sit down at their table again and listen along with a new cup of warm milk tea. Seeing the return of the fourth sister, Misaka 13577 turned to her, "Since it was Misaka 10032 who noticed this, why does Misaka not pick up from here and continue the story?"

"'All right, thank you for starting, Misaka 13577,' Misaka says before Misaka turns to Onee-sama to continue the story," Misaka 10032 said, surprisingly calmly before lowering her cup back on to the table, "This may sound crazy, Onee-sama, but there might be a chance that Himura's ability is not what we thought it was."

This revelation was left in the air for several seconds to allow the words to truly sink in. It didn't take long for the sisters to realize that that was a good decision on the sisters' part, as neither Mikoto nor Ruiko managed to fully process what had just been told to them in less than a handful of seconds.

And then it finally did…

"But how is that possible?! Isn't her ability the ability to take away other people's abilities?" Ruiko exclaimed in shock, being the first of the two to recover as she directed her questions to the sisters. Mikoto, while still being unable to say anything, was silently nodding along to show that she agreed with what Ruiko had just said, "Didn't Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san run into that Himura girl and lost their abilities as a result?"

"'We all know that it is an absurd idea,' Misaka continues as she tries to think of the right words to say this," Misaka 10039 replied, almost melancholically so, as she stared at the swirling surface of the liquid in her cup. Nodding, more so to herself than to anyone, Misaka 10039 looked up to look Ruiko straight in the eyes, "But she managed to avoid most of the attacks that were used against her. All of the sisters as are thinking of the possibility that her ability is something along the lines of sensory or motor enhancement to allow her to do all that."

"Because if not, she would be defying the most basic law of espers: no esper can have more than one ability…" Mikoto mused, receiving nods from all four sisters to show her that they agreed with her. Even so, this was also creating a different problem in the sister's logic, something that Mikoto was quick to voice, "But if her ability is _not_ one that allows her to take away the esper's abilities, then how can she do that?"

"'That is exactly why we were not sure whether or not we should share this information with Onee-sama yet,' Misaka says whilst putting on an apologetic smile to try and appease Onee-sama's upcoming rage," Misaka 10032 did exactly that, only to be followed by a similar reaction from the other three sisters in the room.

Hearing this, Mikoto flinched visibly. Not because of the sisters apologizing to her, but that they felt it was necessary to do so. Because she would be…

"What do you mean 'to appease Onee-sama's upcoming rage'?!" Mikoto yelled indignantly, pounding both of her hands on the table. Fortunately for Mikoto, none of the glasses were on it at that moment, so no damage was done.

Until Mikoto heard a snicker from her left, a voice that sounded awfully familiar to…

"Saten-san? What's so funny?" Mikoto asked, turning on her friend who was covering her mouth to stifle her giggles. Ruiko held up one of her hands to indicate that she needed some time, and she only responded half a minute later.

"N-Nothing at all, Misaka-san," Ruiko said, still trembling slightly from the silent laughter before her eyes locked with Misaka 10032. The two knew instantly what the other was thinking and they nodded appreciatively while Mikoto was not looking.

"So to sum up, there are three possibilities about her ability, right?" Mikoto asked, turning back to the sisters and trying to bring the conversation back on track, "She has an ability to take away all other abilities and trained herself physically to survive in a fight. She has an ability that allows her to heighten her senses and body movements and has found another way to take away esper abilities. Or she somehow has the legendary Dual Skill ability, giving her both."

"'As far as we can tell right now, Onee-sama, that is indeed correct,' Misaka says as Misaka nods along to show that Misaka agrees with Onee-sama's train of thoughts," Misaka 19090 said, being the only one to have returned back to the conversation in full focus, "And if Misaka may be honest with Onee-sama here, Misaka does not know which option Misaka would prefer here."

The other girls in the room let the results of this conversation linger slightly to allow everybody to think more about it. Any option would be bad for them, and none of them are actually helping them out in the long run. They didn't even have any leads as to how to tip the favor of the battle against Himura in their favor.

Finally, after what could very well have been hours but was only a handful of minutes, Mikoto thought of something. And the strongest electromaster was quick to share it with her friends.

"But how would Himura be able to take away the abilities of espers if it is not her ability?" Mikoto asked, looking around her to see if anyone could give a valid answer to her question, "I mean, it would really be impossible right? So maybe Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san and all the other espers that—"

"I'm afraid that it isn't, Misaka-san."

"May not even— Wait, what was that, Saten-san?" Mikoto continued, not having caught what Ruiko was saying until she had said a couple more words. To Mikoto's credit, however, Ruiko had said what she said in a rather soft voice.

"I said that it isn't impossible, Misaka-san, even if it isn't her ability," Ruiko repeated, trying to avoid eye contact at first but knowing full well that she could not do that for long. Ruiko knew that, now more than ever, she needed to look Mikoto straight in the eyes. So she made sure that she was before she continued talking, "On the day when Misaka-san fought that Himura girl, I talked with Uiharu and Shirai-san. Uiharu found an old article that talked about a group of scientists who had perfected a drug to neutralize abilities."

"Now that Saten-san mentions that, I think Kuroko had said something like that to me as well…" Mikoto thought out loud, trying to remember what the teleporter had told her. A task that proved harder than she thought it would with how much that had already happened lately, "But didn't she say that the drug's effects were only temporary? So how is it that Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san are still unable to use any of their abilities even after days have already passed?"

"I… don't know, sorry…" Ruiko said meekly as she looked away again, causing Mikoto to feel slightly guilty. But before Mikoto could do or say anything to try and apologize to Ruiko, somebody had broken the short period of silence that had followed.

"'If Misaka may, we do not know anything about Himura's background, do we?' Misaka asks as Misaka brings up this little bit of information that Misaka has not heard of yet," Misaka 10039 said, looking straight at Mikoto as the words left her mouth. Waiting for a sign that allowed her to continue, Misaka 10039 finally did, "Because knowing more about her past would help us in trying to find a way around her ability, whatever ability it might be."

"Uiharu-san said that she and the other members in Judgment would try and look into that, right?" Mikoto asked as she turned to Ruiko, who nodded in confirmation. Turning back to the sisters across the table, Mikoto added, "We haven't heard anything from anyone else yet, though, so they might have already found something by now. Saten-san, want to go and see if they have after this?"

"I can try and see if I can reach Uiharu right now, actually," Ruiko said, picking up her phone and standing up, "Sorry, this won't take long."

Ruiko then excused herself before she left the room, leaving the five Misakas alone to try and make do with what they had. What Ruiko's exit _actually_ did, however, was to create tension between Mikoto and her sisters as none of them knew how to break the silence.

'If her ability _isn't_ what is causing us to lose ours, then that might even be better for us. I'm sure that there will be a logical explanation for that then, and one that Uiharu-san will find quickly.' Mikoto thought to herself as she went over the possibilities once again. Somehow, this was still a better option in Mikoto's opinion, but how did she manage—

"Onee-sama, you do understand that even if her ability is not what we think it is, she will still be a dangerous threat, right?" Misaka 10032 said calmly, but still in such a way that made it clear that she was being serious. Seemingly indifferent about interrupting Mikoto's train of thoughts, Misaka 10032 continued, "Himura is still a formidable opponent and one that we cannot take lightly. Especially with how two of the people who fought her last time are still not fully recovered, and therefore may not be able to participate in the next one."

Mikoto was about to retort Misaka 10032's claims, but that was when she realized that she couldn't. Misaka 10032 was telling the truth, and as painful as it was to admit Mikoto knew that as well.

"Both Kuroko and Kongou-san are recovering quickly," Mikoto said, recalling how her friends were feeling earlier that day when she had run into them. Then, a bit more optimistically, she added, "And Kuroko is even beginning to get to that point where she can teleport almost freely again. I'm sure that we don't have to worry about them, Kuroko is tough and Kongou-san isn't a push-over either."

"Talking about Shirai-san…" Ruiko's voice caught the group of Misakas' attention when Ruiko came walking back. The expression on her face was hard to read for Mikoto, but Mikoto knew that something happened by the way that Ruiko picked up her stuff, "Uiharu and Shirai-san are asking us to get to the Judgment office as soon as we can. Uiharu sounded pretty ecstatic, much more than I usually know her for, so this could mean something good."

Mikoto nodded as she, too, stood up to join Ruiko. They were about to say their goodbyes when Misaka 10032 stood up and answered the unasked question of Mikoto and Ruiko.

"'Misaka is coming with you, Onee-sama,' Misaka says as Misaka makes a selfish request, wanting nothing more than to be of some use to Onee-sama," Misaka 10032 said quickly, giving her cup to Misaka 13577 who went around and put them all away to be washed later. With a determined look on her face, Misaka 10032 added, "Even if Misaka cannot be very helpful, if at least one of us is going then we can help process the information faster through the Misaka Network."

Ruiko nodded silently, both impressed at that option and to cover up her feelings of guilt about forgetting that before turning to Mikoto, "What do you think, Misaka-san?"

Mikoto stood there, silently, as she tried to make up her mind of what she should be doing. Looking first at Ruiko at her side before her eyes moved around the room to look at the other Misakas. And then, finally, at Misaka 10032 who was still waiting for an answer.

* * *

It didn't take them very long after that to reach the Judgment office, but the air that lingered around them was still uncomfortably heavy. Which was also a motivating force for them to walk faster and, as a result, make the usually fifteen-minute walk in only eight.

Ruiko, being the first to arrive at the door of the Judgment office, was pounding on it as if her life depended on it. Mikoto and Misaka 10032 were silently watching her, knowing that they should probably jump in and intervene but not wanting to face the wrath that is Saten Ruiko's fist.

"Thank you for coming," Mikoto muttered, loud enough to make sure that the girl beside her heard her, but not loud enough for Ruiko to hear, "You've all really been an amazing help for us all, and I'm sorry that I haven't been a good sister for you or any of the others so far."

"'We are only trying to pay Onee-sama back for giving us our lives and a future, Onee-sama' Misaka says, expressing Misaka's gratitude for what Onee-sama has done for us several weeks ago," Misaka 10032 said calmly and without looking up in Mikoto's eyes in favor of watching Ruiko trying to get Judgment's attention, "And Misaka is talking in the name of every one of Onee-sama's sisters as we all feel the same way."

Mikoto, feeling overrun by emotions after hearing Misaka 10032's words, wanted to respond. Unfortunately for her, she never got the chance to do so as it was at that exact moment that the door flew open and a livid Mii stood there.

"What… do you think you are doing?!" Mii's voice sounding terrifyingly soft, making even Misaka 10032 take a step away from the usually calm and bright Mii. Mikoto, for her part, couldn't help but see the resemblance between the Mii that she was seeing right now and the dormitory supervisor back in Tokiwadai.

But that was when Mikoto could see the state that Mii was in. Mikoto knew that everybody was pushing themselves to gather more information, but she hadn't quite realized just how far some of them were willing to go.

Mii's hair was disheveled and there were big black bags under her eyes, reminiscent of those under Kiyama Harumi's eyes. Mii's clothes weren't in much better shape than she was, which led Mikoto to believe that Mii may have been working continuously for days on end.

'If Konori-senpai is like this, then how are Kuroko and Uiharu-san…?' Mikoto couldn't help but think to herself in worry, only now realizing that she had barely seen Kuroko lately ever since the teleporter had convinced Mii that she was all right.

"I'm sorry, senpai, I'm sorry. You see, the thing is that Uiharu called us over, but since we got here I wasn't able to reach her," Ruiko apologized quickly, clasping both her hands together in an effort to appease her senior before almost timidly adding, "I thought that you three might be too engrossed in your work to notice that we were standing outside, so I—"

"Pounded on the door mercilessly…" Mii finished Ruiko's sentence with an unamused expression on her face. When Ruiko nodded quickly, Mii let out a big sigh before motioning the three waiting girls to come in, "Don't do that again, you know where the key is if the door was locked. Which it wasn't, by the way."

"Oops. My bad?" Ruiko's words fell on deaf ears as the other three girls silently walked past her and inside. Once there, Ruiko wasn't the only one to be surprised at the state that the room was in.

"What happened here, Konori-senpai?" Mikoto asked, eyeing all the rubbish just lying around in what used to be a very neat place. She turned to look at Ruiko, who shared her surprise at this revelation, before turning to Mii, "Is everything all right here?"

"Oh yeah, everything is all right," Mii said, trying to reassure the worries of her juniors, but knowing well that she had to give a somewhat decent explanation. With a deep breath, she added, "We just may have been pushing our work a little bit, so everything else was kind of neglected as a result. Sorry for letting you see this side of us."

"'This one is from last week,' Misaka notes as Misaka analyzes this pack of instant noodles," Misaka 10032 mused, having bent down to pick up and look at one of the many strewn about items on the floor. Ignoring the looks that she was getting, Misaka 10032 stood back up and turned to Mii, "If it still takes some time until we can discuss what you have found here, Misaka can start and clean this room up a bit for you."

"That would be very helpful, thank you so much," Mii smiled gratefully, walking off to the back to try and find a broom and a trash bag to put everything in. She returned sometime later with the items in her hands and offered them to Misaka 10032, "Again, thank you very much."

"'It is no problem, it is the least that Misaka can do to try and help,' Misaka says as she accepts the cleaning tools and starts looking around for a place to start," Misaka 10032 replied before she started work, surprising the other girls in the room at how fast and efficient she was able to clean the room. In less than five minutes, they could already see the floor; and, after it had been covered with the empty takeaway boxes and instant noodle cups, that was a very big feat.

Mii took this opportunity to guide Mikoto and Ruiko to the back of the room where Kazari and Kuroko were still busy working on the computers. What shocked the visitors the most was the state that Kuroko and Kazari were in; it was clear that neither of them had gotten a lot of rest lately, if at all.

"Just give me another minute or two, Konori-senpai, I think I may have found something!" Kazari said, her eyes not moving away from the monitor of the computer as her fingers typed away at blinding speeds. Kuroko waved her hand in the air as well to show that she was asking the same thing. Mii nodded, despite knowing that she wouldn't be seen but not wanting to distract her juniors too much, before turning back to Mikoto and Ruiko.

"While we wait for Uiharu-san and Shirai-san to finish, did you find out anything yet?" Mii asked seriously, motioning to the couch in a way to invite Mikoto and Ruiko to sit there. As Misaka 10032 came by them to ask where to throw the trash bag away, Mii pointed at the door and Misaka 10032 returned to sit beside Ruiko after putting it where Mii wanted.

"Why don't you tell them? You were the ones to find it, after all?" Ruiko asked as she looked at the recently joined Misaka 10032 beside her. Both Mikoto and Mii turned to look at Misaka 10032 too in anticipation, effectively forcing Misaka 10032 to speak.

"'Misaka has discussed this through the Misaka Network over the past few days, and some of us are thinking that Himura's ability is not actually what allows her to take away espers' abilities,' Misaka says as Misaka recounts what Misaka has been doing since the last time Misaka was here," Misaka 10032 said while keeping a straight face, ignoring the look that she was getting from Mii. Feeling like she had said enough, Misaka 10032 took a sip of the can of juice that she was offered earlier.

"What I understood from her explanation when Saten-san and I visited her earlier today, they are basing it around the fact that Himura was able to almost effortlessly dodge all of our attacks. Even my Railgun…" Mikoto added, slightly disturbed at the memory of how she had missed all of her attacks. Trying to shake this feeling off of her, Mikoto continued, "What do you think, Konori-senpai?"

"I do think it is understandable why they think that; I'm assuming the ability in question is similar to my Clairvoyance?" Mii asked Misaka 10032, the brunette only nodding silently to show her response. Mii smiled, however, having received enough confirmation to understand before turning back to Mikoto, "The problem then, however, is what Himura uses to prevent espers from using their abilities."

"That was what we were thinking as well, but maybe we already found the answer to that," Ruiko said hopefully, turning to look at Kuroko who had, at one point, joined them without anyone noticing, "Shirai-san, didn't we find that drug that could suppress espers' abilities on the day when you fought Himura?"

Kuroko, having not expected that she would be addressed so quickly, took a moment to take in Ruiko's question. When she finally had enough time to do so, Kuroko slowly shook her head, "That is not enough. It is only able to cut off the esper's abilities for a handful of hours at most. Awatsuki-san and Wannai-san are still unable to use their abilities, even though almost a week has passed since."

"Um… Shirai-san? Can you come over here for a bit?" Kazari called out, sounding slightly hesitant as she knew that Kuroko was in a conversation right now. Kuroko, on the other hand, shrugged before quickly teleporting by Kazari's side.

As Kazari was showing several things on the computer to Kuroko, Ruiko tried her hardest to peek and see what was going on. Unfortunately for her, not only was the computer out of sight for the rest of the people in the room, but Kazari and Kuroko were speaking in such a voice that they were able to prevent Ruiko from eavesdropping.

"I wonder what Uiharu has found that is so special it has to be a secret from all of us…" Ruiko mused, her chin in her palm as she was brooding. Mii wanted to remind Ruiko that Kazari and Kuroko were currently working hard when somebody else had stopped her.

"Great work, Uiharu!"

Kuroko's voice rang through the room, almost making Ruiko fall out of her seat from the sheer volume alone. The next thing that the girls knew was Kuroko suddenly appearing right beside them.

"I need you all to see this, let's go!" Kuroko said in a hurry, grabbing both Mikoto and Misaka 10032 by the wrists and teleporting the two electromasters along with her. Ruiko and Mii, having been left behind, looked at each other, shrugged, and followed their friends the old-fashioned way to where Kazari was sitting.

"Uiharu, could you please rewind from the beginning?" Kuroko asked as she reached Kazari, making room so that the others could see the screen clearly and sitting down on the chair beside Kazari.

"All right!" Kazari nodded before doing what she was asked. Taking a moment to look at everybody around her, Kazari added, "It took me a while, but I finally managed to extract this video footage from the fight with Himura last week. Please pay close attention."

"Uiharu, don't you think that if anyone would know how Himura fights it is the ones who have already fought against her before?" Ruiko asked skeptically, but was surprised when she received disbelieving looks from everyone else, "Did I say something weird?"

"'When an esper is put in a fight of life and death, they will focus more on trying to survive than to watch the person that they are fighting against,' Misaka says as Misaka tries to explain this in as simple terms as possible," Misaka 10032 was the first to answer Ruiko's question. The brunette smiled when she saw that Ruiko was piecing everything together, "Even if it was not technically a life and death situation, it was close enough to one to feel like it."

"With that said…" Mii trailed off as she stepped up and leaned forward to be by Kazari's side, "Uiharu-san, could you please show it to us now? And everyone else, pay close attention!"

Mikoto and Misaka 10032 both nodded simultaneously, waiting in anticipation for Kazari to show them what she had found. From how serious the three members of Judgment were, they knew that it was something important.

What was on the monitor for all to see were very dark but still somewhat visible footages of the fight between them and Himura from last week. From the way the clips showed different scenes, Mikoto silently assumed that they were either from different cameras or from different angles.

She did not have a lot of time to think about which one it was, however, as Kazari turned back to the computer in front of her with a determined expression on her face.

"Please pay close attention to this," Kazari said as she typed in a few commands on her computer and all video footages on the monitor started playing in slow motion.

The footages, at first glance, didn't seem like they were very special. All that they depicted was a segment of their fight with Himura, so why would Kazari go to such lengths to show them?

But that was when Mikoto saw it; and, judging from the way that her face distorted in focus, Misaka 10032 had noticed it as well. The two other members of Judgment, evidently having seen it before, were only nodding grimly as they were reminded of it.

The only one who didn't seem like she was getting what was so special about these footages was Ruiko.

"So… am I supposed to see anything special in there?" Ruiko asked, almost bored as she looked around to see if anyone else were having the same problem as she was. When she quickly found out that that was not the case, she groaned, "Am I really the only one who can't see it?"

"Sorry, Saten-san, I'll explain—what's this?" Kazari tried to be nice to her friend but then she noticed something in the corner of the monitor. Now having caught Kuroko's and Mii's attention as well, Kazari opened the window and took a closer look at what was happening.

It wasn't from a pre-recorded footage of the fight. It was from a present-day surveillance camera.

"Is that what I think it is?" Mii trailed off as Kazari muttered something about not knowing the answer to that.

Kazari didn't need to be asked to enlarge the image, she was already in the process of doing that herself. It didn't take long for her to make the picture clear enough for everyone to see what was in the picture. Or, rather, _who_ was in the picture.

Nobody needed to say anything; they would've recognized that face anywhere.

* * *

 **This will be said again on my fanfiction Tumblr when I post the update schedule for March 2018, but next chapter won't be on the usual Tuesday (13th of March) but on the following day (Wednesday, 14th of March). The reason being that I will be away on the 13th and won't be able to post this chapter up on that day. Thank you for your understanding.**

 **I hope you enjoyed today's chapter, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until two weeks and a day for the next chapter! Take care!**


	8. Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire

**Again, I'm sorry for the one-day delay, but I did say in both the AN of last chapter as well as the post notifying people that the new chapter was live over on the Falneou17 Tumblr that there would be a one-day delay for today's chapter. So… yeah… today's chapter is significantly longer as somewhat of a form of apology? I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun**

* * *

It didn't take long after Kazari had pin-pointed Himura's location for Mikoto, Misaka 10032, and Kuroko to reach their destination. While originally not wanting to bring either of the other two girls with her, Mikoto knew that she would more than likely be needing their help tonight. If the last fight had anything to say about that…

The corner of the district of Academy City that the three girls were currently finding themselves in was as far away from the Judgment's office as was physically possible. Under any other circumstance, it would have taken them almost an hour to get there on foot.

Thankfully for them, they had Kuroko's ability easing the burden on their feet.

"Are you all right, Kuroko?" Mikoto asked worriedly as she eyed the exhausted teleporter. Misaka 10032 shared Mikoto's concern as she looked at Kuroko with a similar look in her eyes as well.

Kuroko had managed to convince the two electromasters that using her ability to get here faster was a very valid and effective way to use her ability. What she may have left out was how much of a toll she would be putting on herself by teleporting not just herself but two passengers along to the other side of the district.

"Never… Never felt better, Onee-sama…" Kuroko breathed out but knew that she wasn't convincing anyone. In an effort to put the focus of attention on something else, Kuroko asked, "Not that I don't trust Uiharu's judgment, but where is that ability-stealing girl?"

"'It could be that she has already left this place in fear of fighting us again,' Misaka says hopefully as Misaka remembers how we were still able to do some damage on her in our last encounter," Misaka 10032 said, but she didn't seem to believe what she was saying herself judging from the look on her face. Instead, Misaka 10032 turned to Mikoto, "We should still check if she is here. Onee-sama?"

"Right," Mikoto announced, raising her arm straight in front of her whilst closing her eyes.

Seeing Mikoto's actions, Misaka 10032 took the goggles that she wore on the top of her head and put them on, now finally being able to see exactly what Mikoto was doing. Waves of varying wavelengths and amplitudes were moving all over the place, and Misaka 10032 was starting to feel slightly dizzy just by trying to keep up with them all.

Kuroko, on the other hand, didn't have the luxury of being able to follow what Mikoto was doing. Despite this, she knew her Onee-sama well enough to know what was going on. Her suspicions were confirmed when Mikoto slowly opened her eyes not long after and turned to look at them.

"It is very faint, but I picked something just a little bit further away," Mikoto said as she walked closer to Kuroko and offered her hand with a smile, "You think you can continue, Kuroko?"

"Onee-sama…" Kuroko breathed out in disbelief as she just sat there, looking up at Mikoto with wide eyes and not knowing what she should say or do. Kuroko knew that she had to do something, however, so she gratefully accepted Mikoto's hand and allowed herself to be pulled back on her feet, "Of course I am! It is Judgment's responsibility to uphold the peace in this city. I would not be able to live with myself if I knew I backed away now of all times."

Mikoto smiled, once again impressed with how determined Kuroko was. Seeing Kuroko like this convinced Mikoto that she had made the right choice earlier.

 _"I know that you all will hate me when I say this, but—"_

 _"I thought you would say that, Misaka-san, but you should know us better than that by now. We're coming with you to help, not only because we want to help but also because we're friends, right? And helping each other is what friends are supposed to do…"_

 _"'Misaka could not have said it any better herself,' Misaka nods in agreement as Misaka feels it is not needed to remind Onee-sama of the results of the last battle."_

Mikoto couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at how determined her friends were to help her, feeling somewhat like a fool for making the same mistakes that she had done in the not-so-distant past. Ruiko had managed to convince Mikoto to allow Kuroko and Misaka 10032 to join her in this fight, but Mii, in turn, had convinced Ruiko and Kazari to stay behind.

Mikoto was brought out of her memories when Misaka 10032 broke the silence.

"'Misaka hears movement, we need to move as well!' Misaka says as Misaka shares the observation that Misaka has made," Misaka 10032 said casually, pointing in a seemingly random direction at first. Both Mikoto and Kuroko were confused as to why Misaka 10032 was pointing, but when Mikoto heightened her senses using her ability she understood.

"You're right… about two hundred meters from where we are, someone is running away from us…" Mikoto mumbled softly, more to herself than to anyone else but knew that Kuroko appreciated that they were sharing information. Mikoto turned to look at her two friends before nodding, "Let's go."

"Onee-sama, should I—?" Kuroko tried but was stopped when a hand was shoved harshly in her face, almost causing the teleporter to lose her balance.

"You've already used your ability more than enough already, Kuroko," Mikoto said, grabbing Kuroko's wrist to prevent her from falling before gently adding, "Leave some of your stamina for when we actually get to fight Himura."

"'This might be a bad time to bring this up, but Misaka cannot help but wonder… is what Uiharu-san said correct?' Misaka asks without any regards to how the answer may affect us," Misaka 10032 thought out loud as she looked at Mikoto and Kuroko. Misaka 10032's words, while not being completely unexpected, still managed to catch the other girls off-guard.

Finally, it was Kuroko who responded.

"I understand why you may have your doubts about what Uiharu had said, but I trust Uiharu's judgment," Kuroko said without a shred of doubt evident in her voice. Then, in a significantly gentler voice, she added, "Uiharu has been my partner for a long time, and she has never given me information that she was not confident was the truth. If Uiharu is the one who told us, then I will believe her."

"'That is exactly the answer that Misaka was hoping to hear,' Misaka says as Misaka feels like Misaka can rest assured now that Misaka knows this," Misaka 10032 smiled before quickly adding, "Misaka apologizes if Misaka was being rude or brought it up at the wrong time."

"Don't worry about that," Kuroko tried to reassure Misaka 10032, the two knowing that the potential argument had been averted. Now that she was confident that it was, Kuroko turned to Mikoto, "So, Onee-sama, where is she?"

* * *

"How do you think it is going for them?" Ruiko's worried words were enough distraction for Kazari and Mii to lose focus in what they were doing, forcing the two members of Judgment to look away and at Ruiko.

"I don't know, Saten-san," Kazari groaned, not out of annoyance due to hearing her friend worry but because she wasn't making much progress in what she was trying to do. Ever since Mikoto, Kuroko, and Misaka 10032 had left the Judgment office, Kazari had been trying to get the video footages of the security cameras on the monitor.

Unfortunately for them, it wasn't going as well as she had hoped. As a matter of fact, Kazari has not been able to connect to even a single security camera, keeping the three of them in the dark as to how things were going with their friends.

"I would be able to tell you if I could get this to work…" Kazari grumbled angrily to herself, again wondering how she could do it. As Kazari was typing away at rapid speeds, Mii gently guided Ruiko to the other side of the room.

"Saten-san, we don't know how it is going with everyone until Uiharu-san manages to redirect the security cameras in the area right here for us to watch," Mii explained gently, and Ruiko nodded silently to show that she understood. Mii smiled before motioning for Ruiko to sit down on the couch beside her. When Ruiko finally did, Mii continued, "So until then, we have to be patient and believe in Misaka-san and the others who are fighting out there."

"How do you do it, senpai?" Ruiko asked, sounding somewhat deflated as the words left her mouth. Mii didn't hear her the first time, so Ruiko repeated what she had just said only louder this time, "Konori-senpai doesn't partake in fights like Shirai-san is, right? How does Konori-senpai manage to stay calm knowing that Shirai-san is out there potentially getting hurt badly?"

"Not to mention how the stakes couldn't be higher now…" Ruiko added with a defeated look on her face, turning away from Mii to try and hide it. She knew that it was a pointless endeavor, however, as Mii of all people would have been able to see right through it.

Mii did not bring it up, however, much to Ruiko's relief. Instead, Mii looked off into the distance as she contemplated her answer for Ruiko's question. In doing so, Mii had created a period of silence between the two of them that was not exactly comfortable, but she knew that she had to be giving Ruiko a solid answer to reassure her.

"It really is difficult, isn't it? Being forced to sit back and watch as everybody around you jump head-first into danger like this?" Mii trailed off with a gentle voice, still looking away but already knowing that Ruiko agreed with her. Then, with a smile, Mii continued.

"That is exactly what helps me get through these times. I know that I am not very helpful in an actual fight, but that is why I support Shirai-san where I can in my own way," Mii finished before motioning in Kazari's general direction, "Uiharu-san feels the same. We may not be able to help them in the conventional way, but there are other ways in which we can help Shirai-san, Misaka-san, and Misaka-san's sister. Ways that only we can do, and that they need us to do to help them succeed."

Mii let her words linger to allow Ruiko to fully process and understand what Mii was saying. Based on how Ruiko's expression changed over time, Mii knew that she had done a good enough job explaining the situation to Ruiko. That was the moment when Mii decided to take a little bit of a gamble by becoming a bit more easygoing.

"And besides…" Mii added with a chuckle, catching Ruiko off-guard who had expected Mii to have already finished, "Uiharu-san and I don't have abilities that are very useful in actual combat, and Saten-san doesn't have any ability at all. We wouldn't really be able to make much of a difference in the fight if we were there, so we should focus helping our friends from here."

"Right!" Ruiko nodded in agreement, causing Mii to smile in response to hearing that. Neither girl could do or say anything else, however, as Kazari chose that moment to call them over.

"Saten-san! Konori-senpai! I did it!"

Ruiko took a moment to remind herself what exactly it was that Kazari had done, but Mii was on her feet and already hurrying over to where Kazari was only seconds after being called. By the time Ruiko had followed Mii's example, Kazari was already busy showing things to Mii.

"It's still a little faint, but look at these," Kazari said before pressing several keys, zooming in at a particular area on the screen. This made the image too blurry to see clearly, but Kazari was already busy trying to fix that problem, "That's her, right? She matches the description that Shirai-san gave us."

On the screen, even though it was still somewhat pixelated and blurry, was the figure of what was unmistakably a girl. Her hair was hanging loose, reaching around halfway down her back, but as Ruiko and Mii were looking at her she moved her hands up to tie her hair into a ponytail.

Ruiko gulped seeing her, finally able to see who was responsible for all those espers losing their abilities in the recent past. Being reminded of what the girl on the screen has already done, Ruiko couldn't help but remember when she was enticed by the Level Upper not too long ago. The pain and fear that she was feeling those days started to resurface, and Ruiko couldn't help but angrily wonder why someone would do what the girl on the screen had done.

"I'm sure that's her," Mii's voice brought Ruiko back to the present, and when the level zero blinked a couple of times she saw that Mii was leaning close against the monitor, "We have to tell Shirai-san that she isn't far away. Can you do that, Uiharu-san?"

"I think that I can…" Kazari muttered, already busy with working on what she had been asked to do.

"We can't make a conventional call to Shirai-san, the sound will be too much of a giveaway for that Himura," Mii said with a frown as Ruiko was watching Kazari work with amazement in her eyes, "Even if Shirai-san is still far away, sounds carry far. Maybe even far enough for Himura to hear us and have enough time to get away."

"Which is why Shirai-san and I have agreed on a different, subtler way of guiding her," Kazari smiled as she showed what she was working on to the other two girls in the room. Neither Mii nor Ruiko needed a lot of time to figure out what Kazari was up to, and Kazari smiled as she pressed the final button on the keyboard, "It is all up to Misaka-san, Shirai-san, and Misaka-san's sister now…"

* * *

As Kazari was doing her things in the Judgment office while Mii and Ruiko were watching over Kazari's shoulder, the group of Mikoto, Kuroko, and Misaka 10032 had continued to walk down this narrow side-alley. Everything was going well for the three girls, but they had just run into their first problem.

"Which way is it?" Kuroko asked, looking at the fork in the road and wondering which one they had to take. Neither of them showed any hints that they could be the right way, which made it even harder for them.

"'Misaka's abilities are being jammed by something,' Misaka says in apology, now unable to use her ability to try and find Himura," Misaka 10032 replied in a defeated tone. As Kuroko was expressing her annoyance at the fact in her own unique way, Misaka 10032 turned to Mikoto, "How about you, Onee-sama?"

"Nothing…" Mikoto said after a few seconds, having reopened her eyes and lowering her arm back to her side again. Feeling helpless, Mikoto turned to Kuroko, "That thing that you and Uiharu-san were talking about earlier… will it be able to help us find Himura now?"

"It should be," Kuroko nodded as she stood up and looked around her, trying to look for cues that Kazari was working overtime. It didn't take long for Kuroko's search to finally be rewarded, but not in the way that she had expected it would.

The already dark side-alley suddenly turned a lot darker as if all the light was suddenly sucked away from it. All three espers, now back on their feet and preparing themselves for the worst, found to their surprise that all of the streetlights in the main street behind them had turned off.

"'What is happening?' Misaka asks in disbelief as Misaka watches the lights flicker on and off in the distance," Misaka 10032, being the first to be able to say something again, said in a daze. Mikoto seemed to share her confusion, but Kuroko did not. As a matter of fact, Kuroko seemed surprisingly happy at this new development.

"Follow me!" Kuroko shouted, already taking off in a sprint and taking the left turn, not even waiting for either Mikoto or Misaka 10032 to figure out what was going on.

"Kuroko! Wait!" Mikoto cried out, the two electromasters having difficulties with catching up to Kuroko. Mikoto never knew that Kuroko could run this fast, even without her ability, but Mikoto still tried to call out to Kuroko, "What makes you so sure that this is the right way?"

Mikoto did not receive a reply from the running teleporter. Instead, it was someone else who answered Mikoto's question while they were still running.

"'Is this what they had planned beforehand?' Misaka wonders as Misaka struggles to keep up with Shirai-san," Misaka 10032 puffed, somewhat inaudibly so but it was clear enough for Mikoto to be able to hear her.

And then it hit Mikoto.

"Kuroko, how much further?" Mikoto called, hoping that her voice was loud enough to reach Kuroko. Thankfully for her, there were no doubts that it did when Kuroko waved over at her and Misaka 10032.

"It's just a little bit further, but be careful," Kuroko added quickly and silently, motioning to the abandoned structure behind her. The building seemed familiar to Mikoto for some reason, but the electromaster could not put her finger down as to why exactly that was.

Misaka 10032, on the other hand, didn't let this bother her, and instead turned to Kuroko before asking, "So what is the plan? We cannot just rush in there like last time, after all."

"Uiharu brought this up with me as well, but I don't think either you or Onee-sama were there," Kuroko said, making her voice into a whisper to try and avoid giving away their position to their eventual combatant, "But what Uiharu thought was a big factor in us not being able to defeat her the last time was that the alley was too narrow. Here, we have a lot more room to run around and fight that Himura!"

"All right, and how do you expect us to get her out here then?" Mikoto asked, somewhat skeptically as she watched the change in Kuroko's expression while the words left Mikoto's mouth.

"I thought you would never ask, Onee-sama," Kuroko smirked as she took out her phone and turned to face the building. The thing that Kuroko did next, however, would strip away several years off of the lives of both Mikoto and Misaka 10032.

"We know you are here! Come on out and we can start our second fight!" Kuroko shouted at the top of her lungs, resulting in both Mikoto and Misaka 10032 to glare at her indignantly. When Kuroko finally noticed this, all she said was, "What?"

"Don't 'what?' me, Kuroko!" Mikoto hissed angrily, grabbing Kuroko by both of her shoulders and shaking her violently, "Didn't we all agree to move in here silently? Wasn't that the reason why we had to start from so far away?"

"'Onee-sama, while Misaka does agree and share Onee-sama's point of view, we may have bigger problems right now,' Misaka says as Misaka points at what is coming at us," Misaka 10032 had moved in between Kuroko and Mikoto, effectively separating them while also directing them to what was approaching rapidly at them.

Mikoto and Kuroko took the hint from Misaka 10032, with the Ace of Tokiwadai regrettably letting go of the teleporter, before they turned to whatever it was that Misaka 10032 was pointing at. Mikoto gasped an almost inaudible gasp when she saw it, but Kuroko was smiling.

Kuroko was smiling because a familiar face had joined them, standing only a couple meters away from the three espers. A girl who was visibly a handful of years older than any of them were, even if her height was not able to tell the same tale.

Himura looked both shocked but also amused when she saw the three espers there, clearly wondering what they were doing coming all the way to her. But she didn't spend too much time wondering about that, as Himura's gaze hardened considerably soon after.

"I don't know if you're incredibly brave or incredibly stupid coming all the way here, knowing that I would be here," Himura said, those being the first words that she uttered in her form of greeting, "Why would you come all the way here just to have your abilities taken away?"

"You are wrong… we are not here to let you take our abilities away, we are here to make you pay for taking away the abilities of so many espers!" Kuroko said with a smirk, her words and the steadiness of her voice startling Himura immensely. Kuroko, seeing this, took this opening and called out to Mikoto, "Onee-sama!"

"We may have fought before, but you haven't seen what we are really capable of!" Mikoto said darkly, slamming her open palm on the ground below her. While Himura was busy wondering what Mikoto was doing, Kuroko and Misaka 10032 jumped out of the way as they knew what was about to happen.

Mikoto let out a huge jolt of electricity in the ground, resulting in several streams of black particles to rise into the air. Both Kuroko and Misaka 10032 knew exactly what those particles were: iron sand.

Only seconds after Mikoto had started her attack did the black streams condense into a tentacle-like extension of her own arm.

"I hope you're ready, ability-stealer, because here I come!" Mikoto announced with a smirk, whirling her arm around in what seemed like a blind frenzy. As she did so, the whip moved accordingly and struck the place where Himura was standing on a split second ago.

Mikoto did not relent there, however, as her onslaught continued, pushing Himura back on the defensive. No matter how much Mikoto tried to hit her moving target, Himura always seemed to be able to narrowly avoid the chainsaw-like strikes. Even so, Mikoto gritted her teeth as she tried again and again.

Although Himura was able to narrowly dodge Mikoto's attacks, Himura knew that her luck would run out eventually. She could only dodge so much, and judging from the damage that the whip-like tendril had caused on the ground Himura knew that she couldn't afford getting hit even once.

There was bound to be an opening in Mikoto's attacks, and that opening came sooner than Himura had expected when the iron sand seemed to move slower and slower. Himura took this moment to create some more distance between her and the third-strongest esper of Academy City and gather herself once again.

It didn't take long for Himura to catch her breath again, finding to her surprise that she was given the time and room to do so by Mikoto. Himura was about to make a snarky remark about how Mikoto had missed her so easily when she looked up and her heart sunk not long after. Mikoto had been busy in Himura's slight distraction, now already controlling twenty of those iron sand tendrils instead of one.

"What are you—?! How are you—?!" Himura sputtered as she eyed Mikoto's weapons with wide eyes. She barely managed to keep herself safe from one of those, how was she supposed to avoid twenty at the same time?

"This is what we were talking about," Kuroko said with a smile, standing a safe distance away from Mikoto. Misaka 10032 was standing by her side, looking equally as content at watching Mikoto take over the fight. Once Kuroko was sure that she had Himura's attention, she added, "You may have fought and escaped us before, but this time the battle is in our favor. Onee-sama?"

"You heard her! Let's do this!" Mikoto grinned before unleashing her attacks on a now terrified Himura. Mikoto used all of her energy to make the tendrils strike as erratically as possible, hitting everywhere around her target to prevent her from slipping away.

Mikoto was doing a good job at this. Her attacks were hitting close enough to Himura to threaten her, but the electromaster made sure to be attacking everywhere around her target as well.

Seeing how relentless Mikoto was being, Kuroko grimaced whilst making a mental note to not anger Mikoto again lest she be the electromaster's next target. Thankfully for Kuroko, nobody could see the change in the teleporter's expression. Nobody but Misaka 10032, that is.

"'Is something wrong, Shirai-san?' Misaka asks as Misaka worries what happened when Shirai-san's face contorted like that," Misaka 10032 turned to Kuroko with a surprisingly concerned look on her face, startling Kuroko out of her train of thoughts as a result, "Would it have been a better idea for Shirai-san to have stayed at home and get some more rest instead?"

"I am all right, please do not worry about me," Kuroko tried to reassure her, turning back to watch the battle instead. With a deep breath, she added, "We need to be ready for when Onee-sama gives the signal. Are you ready?"

The only response that she got was a silent nod, but that was all the response that she needed. Misaka 10032 was already readying her firearms in preparation for when she had to act, and Kuroko had taken a handful of spikes out of their holsters and into her hands.

"When will you stop running away and fight me?!" Mikoto's angry voice rang through the area, her arm still moving around rapidly as she maintained her continuous attacks. Kuroko and Misaka 10032 looked up and were shocked to see what Mikoto had managed to accomplish.

Deep gashes were in the ground, ones that both Kuroko and Misaka 10032 were certain had not been there moments ago. There was also considerable damage to the buildings around them, but not enough so to make the entire structure collapse in itself.

What had shocked the two non-combating espers the most, however, was that there was a significant puddle of deep red on the ground. It wasn't much, but the fact that Mikoto had managed to hurt Himura after all this time was what really mattered.

And, as what was expected by Kuroko, Himura was holding her upper arm in a grimace, a thin stream of red liquid dripping down on the ground below her. Kuroko was about to cheer happily when she remembered who they were fighting against.

"Onee-sama, be careful!" Kuroko warned the electromaster, whose movements had become a lot more reckless after seeing that she was drawing blood. Mikoto did not hear Kuroko, or did not _want_ to hear Kuroko, and that was what worried Kuroko the most, "Onee-sama…"

"'This is bad… Onee-sama does not seem like she has much control over her ability anymore, and if Himura notices this…' Misaka trails off as Misaka wonders what we can do to help Onee-sama," Misaka 10032 muttered softly, almost as if she were in pain herself from being unable to help Mikoto in the fight. All they could do was stay behind in fear of getting hit by the iron sand whips themselves and hope that Mikoto could handle this on her own.

Misaka 10032 was right to start worrying about Mikoto; the movements of the level five had not just become more reckless but also significantly slower. Misaka 10032 was already surprised that Mikoto managed to maintain her attacks for so long, especially in the exhausted state that she was already in before this point.

Misaka 10032 was not the only one who had noticed this, unfortunately. So did Himura, and the brunette was already readying herself for her own attack. Himura smirked, grabbing something from her back pocket but was surprised to see that she wasn't the only one who was carrying a smirk on their face.

"I was waiting for this moment!" Mikoto said confidently, slightly out of breath before relenting and letting the iron sand whips dissipate in the wind. Taking a quivering step backward, Mikoto added, "Go!"

"Onee-sama! Duck!" Misaka 10032 shouted a warning call before taking her gun in her hand and firing a green-colored beam at Himura. Thanks to Misaka 10032 giving her warning call, Mikoto was able to avoid getting hit by jumping to the side in time.

Himura was not so lucky. She managed to avoid taking a direct hit from the blast, but was still grazed in a close enough spot near her wounds to feel the effects. Himura fell to the ground in pain, but managed to dodge the next beam that was aimed right at her head.

"You three… weren't just playing around since we last met, were you?" Himura managed to say through exasperated panting. Instead of getting a response from any of the three espers, Himura heard a familiar sound coming not too far from here.

But when Himura turned around as much as her current state allowed her to, she did not see anything. Even so, Himura was not feeling very comfortable after that sound. And even less so when she heard the confident and prideful laugh of Kuroko.

"What's so funny?!" Himura almost demanded from the teleporter, even though she knew that she was in no position to do so. With how incapacitated she was now, and the espers making sure to keep their distance from her, she had no hope left.

"If you want to know what's so funny, you might want to take a look at your legs," Kuroko pointed, causing Himura to do as she was told before her eyes widened in shock.

The earlier sound of teleportation was not to teleport Kuroko behind her and strike from the back. It was to teleport Kuroko's spikes in her pants and pin her down on the ground even more so than she already was.

What worried Himura the most, however, was not that Kuroko had managed to pin her down. It was that she didn't even feel those spikes cutting through fabric when they did, too focused on her pain inflicted upon her by Mikoto earlier.

"So that was your plan…" Himura muttered softly, certain that she was out of hearing distance from Mikoto and her friends before she raised her head and addressed them directly, "I will admit that you are impressive. But if you think that this is enough to stop me…"

In front of the astounded looks of Mikoto, Kuroko, and Misaka 10032, Himura slowly but surely raised herself back on her feet after pulling out the needles from the ground and throwing them to the side. Injured and panting heavily, Himura was still content as she looked up at her opponents.

"That isn't enough to keep me down!" Himura shouted angrily, holding her hurt arm with the other while glaring daggers at three espers, "The real fight hasn't even started yet!"

"You're right, it hasn't…" Kuroko said calmly, stepping forward and standing in front of Mikoto and Misaka 10032. This was something that neither electromasters were expecting, but they tried to keep a level head to prevent Himura from catching on.

What happened next went by too fast for Mikoto to fully process. She heard the signature sound of Kuroko teleporting away, likely to resume the fight with Himura. The next thing that Mikoto could see, however, was Kuroko laying face-down on the ground and Himura sitting on her back. Himura was holding Kuroko in such a way that she couldn't break free from Himura's hold, and she also did not appear like she was able to teleport away, either.

"KUROKO!" Mikoto shouted in horror, already generating electricity around her to try and change her own magnetic field and pull herself to the teleporter. Misaka 10032 acted in her own way, reloading her gun and aiming it at Himura's heart.

But they couldn't move in time.

Himura had already let go off of Kuroko's arm and placed her right hand on the back of Kuroko's neck. Mikoto and Misaka 10032 were blinded by a bright flash of light, originating from the teleporter herself, forcing them to cover their eyes and turn away.

When the light had finally faded and the two Misakas could see again, Kuroko was lying in a motionless heap on the ground and Himura was dusting her clothes off as she towered above her. Mikoto felt a wave of pain and grief hit her in the heart when she saw the state that Kuroko was in, already knowing what had just happened.

"Don't worry, she's not dead. She just won't be teleporting around much anymore, though," Himura added with a dark smile. She stepped over Kuroko's prone body and slowly walked towards Mikoto and Misaka 10032 on the other side of the open area, "And you two bug zappers will share the same fate as her soon enough."

Mikoto barely heard what Himura was saying, all that she could do was see Kuroko's prone and motionless body on the ground not too far from her. Mikoto did not want to believe what had just happened, but here she was; an esper just had her ability taken away from her, and right in front of the helpless Mikoto.

"You…" Mikoto's voice was all but a low growl as she looked up at Himura with a menacing glare, "You won't get away with this, you hear?!"

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 **And that wraps up today's chapter! I hope that you all enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time in thirteen days' time! Take care!**


	9. Counterattack

**As should already be obvious from the fact that this is the ninth chapter, this story is coming to an end. As a matter of fact, this is the second-to-last chapter to this story! So with that all in mind, I hope that you will enjoy today's chapter, everybody!**

 **Disclaimer's the same as in the previous eight chapters: I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

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"Don't worry, she's not dead. She just won't be teleporting around much anymore, though," Himura added with a dark smile. She stepped over Kuroko's prone body and slowly walked towards Mikoto and Misaka 10032 on the other side of the open area, "And you two bug zappers will share the same fate as her soon enough."

Mikoto barely heard what Himura was saying, all that she could do was see Kuroko's prone and motionless body on the ground not too far from her. Mikoto did not want to believe what had just happened, but here she was; an esper just had her ability taken away from her, and right in front of the helpless Mikoto.

"You…" Mikoto's voice was all but a low growl as she looked up at Himura with a menacing glare, "You won't get away with this, you hear?!"

Mikoto was still paralyzed with both disbelief and hatred, even though several crucial seconds had already passed since Kuroko collapsed at Himura's feet. What made it worse for the electromaster wasn't that her friend had been hurt; it was that she couldn't see Himura take Kuroko down.

"'She managed to grab Shirai-san right after Shirai-san teleported behind her, and then it was just a matter of throwing Shirai-san into the ground,' Misaka says as Misaka sees Onee-sama's confused look, likely because Onee-sama does not know what had just happened," Misaka 10032 said softly, being scarily accurate to the truth as if she could read Mikoto like an open book. Mikoto did not admit this out loud, but she was somewhat glad that Misaka 10032 had explained it to her.

Even though Mikoto was a bit calmer now after Misaka 10032 had said this, it did not calm her down enough to quench her anger. Not as long as Kuroko was in the state that she was in and Mikoto had no idea how to help her fallen junior.

Mikoto was still generating a lot of electricity that she allowed to zap around her. This show of power was enough to keep even Misaka 10032 back, forcefully pushing her back and away from Mikoto only using the electricity that she was generating.

Himura wasn't any less impressed and, much to the delight of Mikoto, even showed signs of genuine fear on her face. This, too, however, did not appease the third strongest esper of Academy City.

"It's about time you took responsibility for what you've done!" Mikoto growled in a low and threatening voice. As she spoke, Mikoto was starting to control and condense the bolts of lightning that were around her and making it that much more powerful in the process, "For all the espers that you have attacked… for Awatsuki-san… for Wannai-san… and, of course, for Kuroko… you'll pay!"

Mikoto made her move and Himura, who had expected a large blast of lightning to be thrown at her, rolled to her right. The next thing that Himura knew, however, was that her entire body squirmed in pain from where her stomach was. A loud, explosion-like sound rang in Himura's ears and she was sent flying into the building behind her, falling down on the ground in a messy and painful heap.

Only then did Misaka 10032, who was unable to do anything but watch Mikoto go off with a bang, realize what had happened. There was even still a little bit of static coming off of Himura's body, despite having been on the ground for a while, which further convinced Misaka 10032 that her guess was right.

"'Sheesh, Onee-sama, you killed her,' Misaka says as Misaka notes how lifeless the body is," Misaka 10032 deadpanned, her voice somehow managing to reach Mikoto and calm her down somewhat. Misaka 10032 wasn't done yet, however, "Why did you attack her like that? Now we do not have any way to reverse the effects of her ability."

"She's not dead. Not yet, at least," Mikoto responded casually, not taking her eyes away from Himura's prone body to look at her own sister. When Mikoto sensed that Misaka 10032 wanted to say something again, Mikoto intervened by adding, "I made sure to hold back for exactly what you had just said."

Misaka 10032 didn't understand what Mikoto was talking about; Mikoto didn't seem like she was holding back in her most recent attack, despite having already used a lot of her power earlier to control those iron sand whips, and Himura had yet to move since taking that blow. What was Mikoto talking about?

But right when Misaka 10032 wanted to open her mouth again to bring this up, something happened that shut her up before she began. Himura was slowly but surely getting back on her feet, her hands already digging into the ground to help steady her as little jolts of electricity left her body.

"How is she…?"

"It's like that bug zapper said," a soft but still clear voice murmured angrily, and when Misaka 10032 looked around saw that it came from the injured Himura. The older girl panted, wiping the sweat and blood off of her face before trying to stand up straight again, "It was a strong hit, but she was holding back… a lot… weren't you?"

"Before I'm making you pay for everything that you did, you still owe us an explanation," Mikoto said in an eerily calm voice. What didn't go unnoticed by either Himura or Misaka 10032 was that Mikoto had her fists clenched and was trembling heavily.

Mikoto took a deep breath and, much to the relief of Misaka 10032, appeared to have regained control over her anger. This did not stop her from turning back to Himura, however, "You're going to tell us how we can give everybody their abilities back again."

"And what makes you think that I will just hand over that information to you, especially after I went through all the trouble of cleaning up this city…" Himura said with a smirk, her words causing Mikoto to spark with electricity once again. As Himura took a step forward, she added a threat to go with it, "You're both running out of energy as well, what makes you so sure that you can even stop me from taking your own ability like I did with this teleporter?"

Throughout Himura's little speech, Mikoto did not react to her in any way. She started to get surrounded by electricity, but aside from that remained motionless as she gave Himura the opportunity to talk. Now that the girl had finished, however, Mikoto was done waiting around.

"I tried to be nice and give you a chance to just turn yourself in and repair the damage that you've done," Mikoto said with a sigh, using her right hand to flick a part of her bangs to the side. With a sideward glance at Misaka 10032, Mikoto nodded solemnly before turning back to Himura, "We're bringing you with us and you're going to tell us exactly what we want to know."

"And I keep telling you… why would I do that after coming so close?!" Himura screeched before she jumped off the ground and sprinted towards Mikoto at surprising speeds for someone as injured as she was.

"Onee-sama!" Misaka 10032 called out in warning when she saw what Himura was doing. She knew that she couldn't do much when compared to Mikoto or even Kuroko, but Misaka 10032 wasn't about to let Himura have her way with Mikoto.

Misaka 10032 drew her gun once again, searching through her pockets to find a spare magazine of ammo to reload her weapon with. She let out a soft gasp of horror when Misaka 10032 felt the thin and cold metallic object slip through her fingers, seeing it fall to the ground almost as if in slow motion.

And that was when Misaka 10032 truly realized it. She was powerless to help Mikoto.

Unfortunately for her, Mikoto had been using up far too much of her own stamina in this fight, and having had consecutive days of little to no rest was not helping her at all. All Mikoto could do was watch as Himura came closer and closer to her while being unable to move a muscle herself.

Mikoto had closed her eyes and braced herself for what was about to happen, having accepted that she would follow Kuroko's footsteps in just a matter of seconds. As a result, Mikoto did not see what had happened; all that the electromaster knew was happening was hearing the surprised gasp from Misaka 10032, the sound of a metallic object colliding with flesh that rang through the area, and two firm but gentle hands pulling Mikoto to the side.

When Mikoto finally opened her eyes again, she was surprised by what she was seeing. Himura was on the ground once again, lying on her back but already struggling to get back up. Misaka 10032 had dropped by Mikoto's side to make sure that she was all right, which Mikoto was aside from the shock of her life.

What surprised Mikoto the most was when she noticed that somebody else had arrived; a familiar face who was leaning quite confidently on the bat that she had been carrying. The bat that, Mikoto now realized, was likely what was responsible for knocking Himura on the ground once again.

And that was when Mikoto saw _who_ was standing in front of her.

"Are you all right, Misaka-san?" the girl turned around, revealing herself to be none other than Ruiko when she went to check on Mikoto's condition. When Ruiko saw that Mikoto was relatively uninjured, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Saten-san? What are you doing here?" Mikoto asked, being gratefully helped to stand up by Misaka 10032 who also seemed to share Mikoto's shock. Misaka 10032 even went as far as to look around her, believing that Ruiko was unlikely to have come all the way here on her own.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ruiko replied to Mikoto's question with a question of her own, smiling brightly as she looked over her shoulder at the exhausted electromaster, "We're friends, and friends help each other when we need them to, right?"

Mikoto, initially stunned by Ruiko's response, eventually let herself to mull over what had just been told to her. She smiled, understanding what Ruiko was saying and where she was coming from before Mikoto remembered where they were.

"Oh yeah, about that, Misaka-san…" Ruiko trailed off, catching the attention of Mikoto again as Ruiko turned back around to face Himura who had, by now, already gotten back on her feet. Seeing this, the newcomer knew that they were short on time so she decided to be as direct as she could about what she was saying next, "Where's Shirai-san?"

That question, while Mikoto was already expecting something along the lines of it as Ruiko _did_ see Kuroko leave along with two electromasters earlier, was still a hard blow for Mikoto. She couldn't reply to it, no matter how much she wanted. No matter how much she wanted to tell the truth, saying it out loud meant accepting that Kuroko had been hurt because of her… and she may never recover from it.

"I see… so that's how it is…" Ruiko trailed off after a couple of seconds, Mikoto's silence was all the answer that she needed to be certain. Mikoto turned away with a pained look on her face, but in doing so missed how Ruiko's grip tightened around the handle of the bat.

As Ruiko was quickly catching up with what had happened, Himura didn't seem all too pleased that there was someone new that she had to fight. Or having received that swing from Ruiko's bat.

"So there is another esper that came here…" Himura muttered, more to herself than to anyone but her voice was loud enough that it was audible for everyone. As she looked Ruiko over, trying to determine what Ruiko's ability was, Himura added, "It doesn't matter what your ability is, you're all going to lose yours regardless!"

Himura didn't wait around for Ruiko or anyone else to respond to what she had just said; Himura was already hurt badly, and facing three espers at once would be a tall order even for her. So she knew that she had to act now, and her target was none other than the newcomer.

Even though Ruiko was already expecting Himura to make a move quickly, she still visibly flinched when Ruiko saw the older and taller girl dash towards her. Almost instinctively, her hands had already moved to swing her bat in Himura's path.

But Himura was ready for this. Skillfully dodging the metallic bat, she smirked as she entered a blind spot for Ruiko, ready to strike the unsuspecting girl… only to have a jolt of electricity run through her body, forcing her to kneel on the ground and writhe in pain.

"What just happened?" was all that Ruiko could say, genuinely confused as she didn't know why Himura was on the ground again. Ruiko was certain that she had missed, not having felt the same feeling as before when she had smashed Himura into the building.

"As you… said before… you are facing the three of us… not just one…" a voice panted from behind Ruiko, and that was when it started to make sense to her. Ruiko didn't even need to turn around anymore to know, but something deep down made her do so anyway.

And it was in time to see Mikoto collapse on the ground from exhaustion. To see one of the strongest people that Ruiko know fall down in defeat right in front of her eyes.

"Onee-sama!" Misaka 10032's voice rang out, reverberating in the air and sounding a lot louder and shriller than Ruiko remembered it being. Not even seconds after Mikoto collapsed had Misaka 10032 already dropped down by her side to make sure that she was all right. Or, at the very least, all right enough.

What Ruiko didn't realize in time, however, was that watching Mikoto collapse and worrying about the level five's wellbeing was enough of a distraction for Himura to retaliate. In one swift motion, one that took advantage of Ruiko's back being turned, Himura grabbed Ruiko in a stranglehold and forced both of them on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Ruiko managed to mutter with Himura putting her weight on top of her. Ruiko tried to wriggle free, even using her bat as a form of leverage, but Himura's weight proved too much for Ruiko to escape from.

Misaka 10032 was busy tending to Mikoto's wounds but the sudden motion that happened right in front of her caught her attention. Misaka 10032 looked up, only to see that Himura was about to do the same to Ruiko as she had done to Kuroko only moments ago.

"Saten-san! Look out!" Misaka 10032 cried out, already fearing for the worst but knowing that she couldn't do anything. If she were to try and help Ruiko get away, she would leave the incapacitated Mikoto unguarded against attempts to take away her ability. But if Misaka 10032 didn't do anything, Ruiko would suffer that fate instead.

"I don't know what your ability is, but if you're anything like those other espers then I can't be taking any chances," Himura said, the maniacal grin on her face could almost be heard by Ruiko, "But whatever it is, I won't have to worry about it anymore!"

Without wasting another second, Himura had already forcefully placed her hand on the back of Ruiko's neck in a similar fashion as she did with Kuroko. Misaka 10032 exclaimed Ruiko's name in worry, but even Misaka 10032 knew that it was too late now… Himura was just about done with her second victim of the night.

Only for something to go amiss this time. Unlike with Kuroko, where the blinding flash of light was a clear indicator that something had actually happened to the teleporter, nothing of the sort happened now that Himura was busy with Ruiko.

This surprised both Misaka 10032 and Himura, both girls wondering with different intakes of air why Himura's attack had failed. Misaka 10032, with the help of the other sisters and the Misaka Network, realized the answer sooner. Himura did not have the luxury of the Misaka Network to help her out and was, as a result, left clueless.

"But why? Why isn't it working?!" Himura asked in annoyance, instinctively leaning back and away from Ruiko while doing so, "This doesn't make any sense!"

"You might want to do a little bit more research in the people you're fighting before assuming things," Ruiko said with a dark smile. A smile that, because she was still effectively lying face-first on the ground, Himura did not see. Ruiko gave Himura a few seconds to process what Ruiko had just said, but before Himura fully understood what was going on Ruiko had already said it.

"The reason why you can't take my ability away is because I don't have any abilities. That's right, I'm a level zero!" Ruiko announced with a surprisingly confident grin, turning around as much as Himura's weight on her back would allow her to. In doing so, she saw the astounded look on Himura's face, which made it all the better, "You can't take away what isn't there! Your ability is scary when your opponent is an esper but against someone like me… you may as well be a level zero as well! Now get off of me!"

Misaka 10032, despite having already figured out what had happened, couldn't help but smile as she heard Ruiko's explanation. At the same, Misaka 10032 was feeling somewhat stupid for forgetting that earlier and for not having brought up the possibility of a level zero being immune to Himura's ability.

Having said everything that she wanted to say, Ruiko pushed off the ground with all of her strength. This wasn't enough to completely escape from Himura grasp, but it gave Ruiko just enough room to reach for the bat that she had dropped and use it to turn the tables on Himura.

Under any other circumstance, Ruiko may have felt bad for what she was doing to the girl who was pinning her down. However, seeing both Kuroko and Mikoto lie unmoving on the ground in different parts of her peripheral field of vision helped ease Ruiko's worries as she used her bat to repeatedly slam Himura.

Ruiko's assault wasn't the most gracious one, but it did what it was intended to do: it forced Himura to jump off of Ruiko's back in an effort to escape the wrath of the bat. This, in turn, allowed Ruiko to get back on her feet and ready herself to resume fighting Himura.

Even if Mikoto and Kuroko were able to fight, Ruiko was well aware of the fact that she was the only one who had any sort of chance against Himura. Everyone else who was dear to her, every last one of her friends had an ability that they could lose if Himura got the better of them. Which was exactly why Ruiko knew that she needed to be doing this.

"To think that they dragged a powerless civilian into this…" Himura muttered angrily to herself, glaring at Ruiko as she tried to think of a way to subdue her. Ruiko had been right with one thing, even if Himura didn't want to admit this.

She couldn't do much against a level zero like Ruiko.

"My friends did not drag me into anything," Ruiko said, sounding surprisingly calm and at ease while the words left her mouth. Turning to lock eyes with Himura before smiling, Ruiko added, "I decided for myself that I will get involved in this. For what you have done to my friends!"

"Even if I can't take away your ability, what hope do you have in an actual fight against me?" Himura taunted but Ruiko didn't react to it in any way, much to her disappointment. Gritting her teeth, Himura tried again with a sneer, "You can't do anything!"

Ruiko just watched on, somewhat impatiently, as Himura tried to shake her by throwing one insult after the other. It didn't take Himura long to realize that her desperate tactic wasn't working, and that was when she looked at Misaka 10032 and the still unmoving Mikoto behind Ruiko.

"Even if I can't take away your ability… there are still two more espers here whose ability I can take!" Himura said, and this realization was what finally got a reaction out of Ruiko. Himura's smile widened greatly when she saw Ruiko turning around to look at Mikoto and Misaka 10032 behind her.

Himura wasn't one to let such an opportunity slip past her, and Ruiko was about to learn that the hard way. Before the level zero could do or say anything, Himura had already dashed past her and was going straight for the two electromasters.

"Look out!" Ruiko called out, running after Himura but knowing full well that it was too late; Himura was already naturally faster than Ruiko was, and with the head start that Himura had catching up to her would be next to impossible.

Misaka 10032 saw everything that was happening in slow motion. She saw how Himura passed Ruiko, almost effortlessly avoiding Ruiko's wild swing with the bat, until both girls were sprinting as fast as they could towards her. Her and Mikoto, who had yet to regain her consciousness.

She knew that she couldn't defeat Himura. She knew that she stood no chance whatsoever in trying to hold Himura off when they failed to do so in a group of four the last time. Now it was just her and Ruiko, and Misaka 10032 knew that Himura had already gotten out of Ruiko's already short-range.

Even if it meant that she would be putting herself at risk, or even if it meant that she would trade away her own ability for Mikoto's safety, Misaka 10032 knew what she had to do. For the person who allowed her to not only exist but also to continue living as a distinct individual. With all of her strength, Misaka 10032 scrambled to get back on her feet and stand in front of Mikoto.

Misaka 10032 knew what was about to happen, so the girl braced herself for Himura managing to pin her down and take away her abilities. Misaka 10032 could only hope that Ruiko understood what she was doing and would take advantage of the opening to get Mikoto to safety.

A disgruntled grunt, the familiar sound of a body hitting the ground, and everything turned back to normal speed for Misaka 10032. Looking around to see what happened, she saw Ruiko skidding to a stop right in front of her.

"'But if Saten-san is there, then does that mean that…' Misaka trails off as Misaka tries to process what had just happened," Misaka 10032 said dumbfounded, still trying to see what had happened. That was when her eyes landed on the ground and when she saw Himura lying flat on the ground.

"She just fell down out of nowhere," Ruiko muttered as she stepped around the prone girl and stood beside Misaka 10032. Even so, Ruiko didn't want to take any chances and she placed some weight on Himura's back with the help of her bat. As Ruiko did this, Himura made a soft sound of pain from her position on the ground.

"To think that I've… taken this much damage…" Himura muttered angrily to herself, grimacing from the pain that burned throughout her body. Ruiko's bat being driven into her back wasn't helping Himura's cause very much, either, but the grounded girl wasn't about to let her enemies have that small little victory. Instead, she tried distracting herself from the pain by adding, "That teleporter and the Railgun… I hate to admit it… their pesky abilities got the better of me…"

"So now that we've beaten you, you're coming with us and give everybody their abilities back!" Ruiko demanded, emphasizing her point by pushing a bit harder using her bat into Himura's back, "You can start with Shirai-san over there!"

Ruiko and Misaka 10032 were expecting Himura to make a snarky remark in response to Ruiko, to try and break free and escape from her punishments, or even to somehow try and continue fighting them. What neither of them was expecting was what Himura actually ended up doing.

Himura started laughing.

It was soft and slow at first, starting out as the mere trembling of her body as she held in her silent laughter, enough so that it could have been overlooked. It didn't take long, however, for the laugh to grow in volume to the point where Himura's slightly maniacal laughter was all that could be heard in the area.

Ruiko was about to say something again, perhaps in an effort to get Himura back to her senses, but Himura chose that moment to stop laughing and said, "I'll admit defeat, but do you really think that I will be giving all those espers their abilities back? You kids don't know the first thing about what this city is doing, do you?!"

"'She said something like that before as well,' Misaka says as Misaka recalls her words from the last time Misaka fought her," Misaka 10032 told Ruiko, her breathing already having evened out significantly more than earlier. Ruiko nodded, acknowledging the information that she had gotten from Misaka 10032 before the younger Misaka added, "Misaka has already shared the information through the Misaka Network with the other sisters, they should be able to find something more about this soon. However, it may take some time until they do, so what do you think we should do now, Saten-san?"

"At the very least, we need to bring her back with us and make sure that she doesn't hurt anyone else," Ruiko said with a sigh, not knowing what else to say or do now that the threat of Himura had been effectively neutralized. Instead, she turned back to Misaka 10032 and said, "Can you see if you can get Misaka-san and Shirai-san—"

"You really don't have to worry about us, though, Saten-san, but thank you for the gesture," a familiar voice from behind them prompted Ruiko and Misaka 10032 to turn around almost on instinct. In doing so, Ruiko's eyes started to water a bit from the happy tears that had started to form.

A still trembling Mikoto and a completely drained Kuroko slowly made their way over to where Ruiko and Misaka 10032 were standing, the two students of Tokiwadai physically supporting the other. Neither of them was looking like they were doing well; as a matter of fact, it was clear that the battle had taken its toll on their bodies. Even so, they looked like they couldn't be happier than they were now.

"I'm sorry for pushing you away from helping, Saten-san… it looks like I really haven't learned much yet, huh…?" Mikoto added with a sad smile, making sure that apologizing to Ruiko was the first thing that she did now that she was somewhat back on her feet again. Before Ruiko had the time to open her mouth and reassure Mikoto that it was all right, Mikoto was already speaking again, "You did amazing today, Saten-san."

Ruiko, not knowing any other way to respond to Mikoto's words than to chuckle awkwardly, almost loosened the pressure on Himura's back enough for the defeated girl to be able to escape. Fortunately for them, Misaka 10032 saw this in time and fired a shot where Himura's head would have been had she not stopped abruptly that, judging by the way that she stopped abruptly, seemed to be doing the job.

"'Attacking a downed person is not in our style, but an exception will be made for you if you try and escape,' Misaka says as Misaka almost regrets missing that shot," Misaka 10032 muttered, sounding genuinely upset about what she had to do. Possibly in an effort to help make her mind go somewhere else, Misaka 10032 turned around to face the two girls who had recently rejoined them, "Are Onee-sama and Shirai-san good enough to be standing and walking around like that? You both took some big hits today…"

"We're all right enough, we can at least stand and walk… somewhat…" Kuroko added that last word in a sort of a mumble, almost as if she didn't want to say that at first. Now that she said it, however, Kuroko was desperate to change the topic so she turned to Ruiko, "Saten-san, how did you get here so fast? Even if you left minutes after we did, you really did not have a lot of time to travel all the way here, did you?"

"Actually, Konori-senpai managed to persuade her roommate that she needed to borrow a Judgment car and is waiting just a bit further away," Ruiko said nonchalantly, pointing off in the direction that the others could only assume Mii was supposedly in. This reply caught the three espers off guard, and Ruiko noticed this, so in an effort to clear up possible confusion, Ruiko added, "We had all the faith that Shirai-san, Misaka-san, and Misaka-san's sister could win, but we also thought that the battle might be a bit hard. So Konori-senpai suggested this idea in order to at least get everybody back home safely."

This made more sense to Mikoto, Kuroko, and Misaka 10032, especially since Ruiko and Mii had seen them after their first battle with Himura. While none of them showed it, all three of them were incredibly grateful for what was being done for them. They all made a mental note to properly thank their friends for it later.

Until that time comes, the four girls had a bigger problem on their hands.

"What do we do with her?" Ruiko asked, nodding in the direction of Himura was still lying face-first on the ground. Turning around and directing her question mostly to Kuroko, Ruiko added, "And are you all right, Shirai-san? I mean, after everything that happened."

"Yes… we just need to interrogate her to find out how everybody can get their abilities back," Kuroko said with a small huff, but otherwise seemed like she was back to her usual self again. Ruiko was not the only one who smiled at her response, but Kuroko had already thought of something else, "There's only one problem… we in Judgment cannot take people into custody, only Anti-Skill can or with the required permission from the higher-ups."

"Then we should be just fine, right?" Ruiko grinned as she watched Misaka 10032 help Kuroko handcuff Himura. Ruiko's words caught Kuroko's attention, but before the former teleporter could say anything Ruiko had already taken something out of her pockets and proudly shown it to her friends, "Ta-da! It seems like Uiharu managed to get the necessary documents. Or, I guess, that other Judgment branch that she went to did."

Kuroko was silent for a bit after hearing that, almost as if she wasn't quite sure how to respond to what she had she had just been told. Slowly but surely, however, the other girls could see the features of Kuroko's face shift slightly.

"Saten-san, remind me to thank Uiharu for her good work as usual later," Kuroko nodded gratefully in Ruiko's direction before Mikoto and Misaka 10032 help support her on either side. With the two electromasters on either side, Kuroko was able to do something that at least somewhat resembled walking; even so, she took her time to look at Ruiko and add, "Saten-san, can you take care of Himura? You are really the only one who she cannot hurt, after all…"

"Right, of course," Ruiko said hastily, pulling Himura back on her feet and guiding her in the right direction. Surprisingly, Himura did not struggle too much and allowed the level zero to escort her away, which was something that entered Ruiko's mind for a while but she shrugged it off.

Meanwhile, Kuroko and Misaka 10032 were about to follow Ruiko back home when they noticed that Mikoto had yet to move. Turning to look at her, they saw that Mikoto was looking at the abandoned building that Himura had come out of with a frown.

"Onee-sama?" Kuroko and Misaka 10032 asked simultaneously, the worried tone in which they did actually managing to reach through to Mikoto. It was Misaka 10032 who ended up being the one to continue.

"'Is something wrong, Onee-sama?" Misaka asks as Misaka notices how Onee-sama has been distracted for the past seven minutes," Misaka 10032 notes, looking at Mikoto with a quizzical look on her face, "Are you all right?"

"Oh? What? Yes, I'm perfectly fine," Mikoto laughed awkwardly, tearing her gaze away from the abandoned building and turning back to the other two before adding, "Just a bit tired, that's all. Say, we should probably hurry before Konori-senpai gets mad at us for taking so long."

"Onee-sama is right… I would rather not receive Konori-senpai's scolding again for being late…" Kuroko winced, unintentionally reminding herself of the last time when that had happened. In a way to distract herself, Kuroko turned to the two electromasters, "Let's go!"

As soon as Kuroko had finished, the three girls started to make their way, walking down the path that they saw Ruiko take to get to where Mii would be waiting for them. After a long and exhausting battle that pushed all of them to their limits, they would not have to worry about espers losing their abilities again. And with a little bit of persuasion, they knew that every esper that has been affected would get their abilities back again.

'But even so…' Mikoto thought silently to herself, making sure that neither Kuroko nor Misaka 10032 noticed what she was doing, 'What did Himura mean when she started talking about what this city is doing, and could it really have been this bad that she was this focused on getting rid of espers?'

As more thoughts swam around in Mikoto's head, the three girls slowly but surely closed the gap between them and Ruiko, and before long could already see waiting Mii outside a big van.

It was a long day, but they knew they would be all right now. Their fight with Himura had finally come to a close…

* * *

 **And that wraps up today's chapter! There will be one more chapter that should (hopefully) wrap up this story as a whole and which will be uploaded in two week's time like it usually is.**

 **With that being said, I hope that you all enjoyed today's chapter, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time! Take care!**


	10. Epilogue

**Here we are at a very bittersweet moment: the tenth and final chapter of this story. I hope that you all enjoyed the story so far and will enjoy this last chapter of this story!**

 **For the last time this story: I do not own Toaru Kagaku no Railgun**

* * *

Two days have already passed since Himura had been subdued and got taken into custody by the combined efforts of Mikoto, Kuroko, Misaka 10032, and Ruiko. Now in the hands of Anti-Skill, Himura had been constantly interrogated since her capture to try and find out her motives and how to reverse the damage that has been done. None of their talks with the girl have proved to be very successful, however, but this did not dissuade the members of Anti-Skill from continuing the interrogations.

Meanwhile, none of the afflicted espers including Kuroko, Maaya, and Kinuho, had yet to be able to use their abilities again. And with Himura still refusing to undo the damage that she has done herself, the only thing that the victims could do now was wait impatiently for someone to find a cure.

This did not mean that Judgment's one-hundredth-and-seventy-seventh branch would be taking this defeat very easily. In reality, Kazari and Mii had never worked this hard in their lives; the threat of espers losing their abilities was neutralized, but now they still had to be cleaning up the mess that their earlier fights had caused. And ever since they came to the realization that they needed Himura for that, both girls were working overtime to look into ways to make Himura cooperate.

"So… still nothing?" Ruiko asked, sounding slightly disappointed as she joined Kuroko and Mikoto at the table in the family restaurant. It has been a while since the three friends had last been able to sit down here without any worries on their mind, but even now the air between them was surprisingly heavy.

"Allow me to show you, Saten-san," Kuroko said with a sigh, picking up the menu card in both of her hands before her face contorted in concentration. Ruiko was watching with high hopes of something happening, but her mood started to plummet as seconds turned into minutes and the menu card didn't go anywhere.

"I see…" Ruiko trailed off, sounding fairly disappointed as Kuroko almost dejectedly returned the menu card back in its rightful place.

What followed after was an uncomfortable period of silence that lasted an extended period of time, none of the girls knowing how they could break it. The three of them would have been forced to stay like this had it not been for the timely arrival of the waitress who had brought with her their orders.

As Kuroko was silently contemplating some stuff while stirring her drink with her straw, Ruiko scooted a bit closer to Mikoto so that she could continue the conversation in a whisper, "And there are still no leads from Anti-Skill yet? You know, about how to help everybody get their abilities back again."

"We have not, unfortunately…" the words themselves was not what had made Ruiko jump in surprise, it was who had said it that did. Kuroko was still busy with her drink, but both Ruiko and Mikoto would have recognized that voice anywhere. With a sigh, Kuroko added, "I was about to go and see how Konori-senpai and Uiharu were doing with it and see if they might need any help. You two are free to come along if you want."

"Maybe there's something that we can do to help them, too," Ruiko said, both enthusiastically and hopefully as she looked between Kuroko and Mikoto. As time slowly ticked by and the level zero didn't receive the reaction that she was hoping for, she desperately added, "Come on… there should be something that we can do, right?"

"I guess we could… and I would also like to know if they have been able to get anything new yet," Mikoto finally nodded slowly in agreement, somehow able to miss the little fist pump that Ruiko was doing. Instead, Mikoto turned to look in the opposite direction and focus her attention on Kuroko, "If that is okay with you and Uiharu-san and Konori-senpai, of course."

"I do not see a problem with that, and I am sure that Uiharu and Konori-senpai will be fine with you visiting them as well, but…" Kuroko trailed off, finally lowering her glass and looking at Mikoto with a surprisingly unreadable expression. Mikoto was about to ask Kuroko what was wrong when Kuroko had already answered Mikoto's unvoiced question herself, "Would you not want to bring your sisters with you as well? It is not like Onee-sama to not include them."

Mikoto flinched, not having expected that question from Kuroko. It was true what Kuroko had said, though; none of the sisters were here and Mikoto had not brought them up even once since they had arrived. Ruiko, who hadn't really been paying much attention ever since Mikoto had started talking with Kuroko, suddenly grew extremely interested as well.

"Well, the truth is…" Mikoto trailed off, scratching the side of her face as she tried to buy time to remember what Misaka 10032 had told her only an hour ago, "She said that she wouldn't be able to join us as she had to go on a check-up again today. Apparently, that doctor didn't really like how much pressure she has been putting on her body while helping us against Himura."

These words struck Kokoro and Ruiko hard; both of them had been well aware of how difficult their two fights with Himura had been, but neither had realized what an effect it must have had on Misaka 10032. The three of them fell silent again, all feeling guilty over not having realized it sooner and potentially preventing Misaka 10032 from over exhausting herself.

"We should probably get going then. If we want to see how Konori-senpai and Uiharu are doing, I mean," Kuroko added that last bit quickly, looking at her friends before realizing what she said. Almost timidly, she added, "After we finished here, of course…"

Both Mikoto and Ruiko couldn't help but laugh at what Kuroko had said, but neither of them had any objections to it. And with that, they did exactly as Kuroko had suggested they should do: enjoy their orders with the occasional small talk between them.

It was a pleasant way to rewind after all the stress from the last couple of days…

* * *

Despite the slight delays and detours that they had made on their way here, the trio of Mikoto, Kuroko, and Ruiko finally arrived at the Judgment office without many difficulties half an hour later. Ruiko had insisted that they should be bringing something for Kazari and Mii who were likely to be working still, so she was carrying a plastic bag filled with sweets that they had bought along the way.

"Uiharu? Konori-senpai? Have you made any progress?" Kuroko called out, opening the door and holding it open for her two friends to follow in after her. Thankfully, the members of Judgment had been putting in more effort to keep the office clean.

Kuroko didn't receive an immediate reply from either Kazari or Mii and it didn't take her long to find out why. Both girls were behind their computers clearly working on something that required all of their attention earlier but had fallen asleep at some point in time. Kuroko could even hear Kazari mumble something about 'that pretty parfait'.

"We should wake them up, shouldn't we?" Ruiko asked slightly uneasy, looking from Kuroko to Mikoto as she said those words, "I mean, sleeping like that isn't good for their health…"

With a sigh and almost reluctantly, Kuroko shook the shoulders of both of her colleagues before she waited for them to get back to reality. As Kazari and Mii were waking up, Mikoto couldn't help but sneak a peek at the monitors and saw something that she shouldn't have.

"Is that—?!" Mikoto exclaimed in shock before she knew what she was fully doing. The loud, shrill voice of the electromaster's shout was enough to fully wake both Kazari and Mii; seeing this, Mikoto apologized quickly, "Ah—I'm sorry about that, Uiharu-san, Konori-senpai."

"Misaka-san and Saten-san… Shirai-san is here too…" Mii muttered drowsily as she rubbed her eyes. At the same time when Mii did this, Kazari let out a loud yawn while stretching her arms up high above her head that received an amused look from both Ruiko and Mikoto.

Now somewhat awake, Mii turned to look at Kuroko with what appeared to be a grouchy and annoyed look on her face, "What are you doing here so early, Shirai-san?"

"'Early'?" Kuroko repeated, sounding slightly taken aback by her senior's words. Realization hit Mii at about the same time when Kuroko opened her mouth again to let the whole world know, "It is already close to dusk, Konori-senpai."

To emphasize her point, Kuroko walked over to the window and opened the blinds, showing both Mii and Kazari how dark it has gotten outside. True to Kuroko's words, the sun could already be seen starting to set in the distance, basking Academy City in a beautifully warm orange light.

Mikoto and Ruiko shared a silent laugh together when they saw the looks on the faces of Mii and Kazari; neither of them knew what to say in response to Kuroko. It would have stayed like this had Kuroko not closed the blinds again and walked over to where her colleagues were sitting.

"That aside, how is the progress so far? Have either of you found anything yet?" Kuroko asked her colleagues seriously, looking over their shoulders at the monitors to see if she could find anything. Before Kuroko had the time or the space to do just that, however, somebody had stopped her.

"Shirai-san, try this please," Mii's words caught Kuroko off-guard, but what was even more surprising for the teleporter was what Mii was holding in her outstretched hand. Mii saw the confusion on her junior's face and smiled before gently adding, "If it does what we hope it does, it should give you your abilities back."

What followed was deathly silence, none of the three newcomers knowing what to say or do. They all wanted to know that what they thought Mii had said was actually what Mii had said, and the smile that stayed on Mii's face seemed to mean that it was.

Kuroko was looking between Mii and Kazari only to see that both girls sharing an identical knowing and content smile. Hesitantly, Kuroko turned back to Mii, "How did you two… get this…?"

"Uiharu-san went and visited the other Judgment branch office yesterday to compare data, and with the help of the higher ups managed to create this," Mii explained, taking a moment to look at a now slightly flustered Kazari before turning back to her other junior and offering the syringe in her open palm once again, "Go on, Shirai-san. You deserve this."

"But… so you finally managed to get that girl to talk about this?" Kuroko asked nobody in particular as she still eyed the syringe in Mii's hand with an unreadable expression. This just all seemed way too good to be true for Kuroko and she still had difficulties accepting this reality.

"Actually, we haven't…" Kazari admitted in a meek voice. When she saw the look that she was getting from Kuroko, she quickly added, "It's that Anti-Skill found out how Himura's ability worked and made a way to negate the effects of her ability without her cooperation."

Kuroko's face relaxed considerably after hearing this, turning back to Mii who nodded with a smile. Taking a deep breath, Kuroko accepted the small item in Mii's hand, took off the sealed cover of it, and ended up staring at it for an extended period of time.

Just as Kazari wanted to try and reassure Kuroko that it was okay and that she should use it, Kuroko had already taken a deep breath and injected the contents of it in her left upper arm. Kuroko winced slightly as whatever was in the syringe entered her system, but before she had fully processed the pain it had already disappeared.

The next thing that Kuroko's brain processed was the expectant and hopeful looks that she was getting from all four of the other girls in the room. Kuroko flinched slightly, feeling slightly stupid for not having expected as much but still managed to respond very lady-like despite her shock.

"Eh?"

"Well, has it worked yet?" Ruiko, being the first one to say something after Kuroko had injected herself with the syringe, asked in an excited and impatient tone. The other three girls, while not being as direct about it as Ruiko was, were clearly sharing Ruiko's excitement.

Kuroko blinked a couple of times in surprise but ended up smiling before too long as she held the syringe in her hand. Kuroko focused, closing her eyes as she let the familiar sensation run through her veins. She let her brain do what it couldn't have been doing for the past two days, and while it got a bit rusty Kuroko knew that it would come back to her.

Opening her eyes again at the same time when a familiar sound rang through the room, Kuroko saw to her delighted surprise that the syringe wasn't in her hand anymore. Looking around her frantically, Kuroko saw that the tiny object was lying innocently on the table in front of her.

"It looks like it worked," Kazari said with a smile, bringing Kuroko back to reality as the teleporter turned to look at her colleague. It was only then that Kazari's words truly sunk in, but Kazari decided she wanted to continue talking anyway, "Shirai-san, you can use your abilities again!"

The next thing that Kuroko knew was that she was being embraced; not just by one of her friends but by all four of them at the same time. And it was only then that Kuroko truly felt the impact of the last battle with Himura.

"You may still not be able to use your abilities like you could three days ago, but it should gradually return to you over time, Shirai-san," Mii explained gently, being the last to let go of Kuroko and look the teleporter in the eyes. With a quick nod, Mii said the next thing to nobody in particular, "Now we can give this to all the victims of Himura as well. Uiharu-san? Shirai-san? Can I count on the two of you to do this?"

"Of course!" Kazari exclaimed, standing up from her seat and already walking over to a drawer that the other girls could only assume was where they stored those syringes. Coming back with a big box held in her hands not long after, Kazari turned to look at Kuroko with a smile, "Let's go, Shirai-san! I already have the list of all the espers we need to visit and their addresses, so it shouldn't take us too long."

"Let's go, Uiharu!" Kuroko said, already on her way to open the door when a voice stopped her.

"Shirai-san!" the sudden yet surprisingly loud voice of Mii almost made Kuroko trip on her feet, and it was just barely that Kuroko managed to turn around to see what Mii wanted to say. Mii took her time to think of the right words to say, but finally confronted Kuroko with a serious look on her face, "Be careful. You may have your ability again, but your body isn't used to it anymore. Don't overwork yourself thinking you're back at full strength today, all right?"

"I promise, Konori-senpai," Kuroko said seriously with a slight bow of her head. Seeing the smile on Mii's face she knew that she had said the right thing, so that was when she turned to look at Kazari, "Let's hurry, Uiharu!"

The two girls didn't take much longer. With a quick wave of goodbye by Kazari, they were already outside before Mii, Mikoto, or Ruiko could say or do anything else. As the realization dawned on them that Kuroko and Kazari had left, they started to see that they were the only ones in the room.

"So… I guess I should be going home now, too," Ruiko chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of her head for a second before grabbing her belongings. Ruiko would have made a beeline for the door had somebody else not stopped her.

"Before you leave, I need to share something with the two of you…"

It wasn't a command, it sounded more like a desperate plea. And knowing that said plea came from Mii was all it took for both Ruiko and Mikoto, who was also getting ready to go, stop what they were doing. Mii looked downcast and very uneasy, making sure to keep her eyes away from either of her juniors which further worried Mikoto and Ruiko.

If Mii was like this, then whatever it was that she wanted to share was something big.

"What is it, Konori-senpai?" Ruiko asked, the worry that she was feeling conveying perfectly through the tone in which she asked the question. Mikoto sat down beside Ruiko, looking equally as worried as Ruiko whilst looking at Mii.

Mii took a long time to find the right words to reply to her junior's questions. But, as time was slowly ticking by, she knew that she needed to tell them. With a half-smile, she thought to herself, 'They would have found out one day, anyway… so what's the harm?'

"What I am about to say is highly classified, so don't talk about it where others may be able to hear you," Mii warned, looking sternly at both Mikoto and Ruiko until they nodded. Seeing this Mii smiled, feeling like she was making the right decision to share this with them.

"It's about Himura," Mii finally said after taking a deep breath, standing up to get her laptop and show Mikoto and Ruiko what was depicted on the screen. Ignoring the gasps of shock and horror from her juniors, Mii continued, "We may have found out about her past, and as you can see it isn't pretty. It might explain why she was so focused on taking away the abilities of espers."

"'The Esper Accelerated Development Project has failed'," Mikoto read the title of the article with a horrified expression, an almost identical expression being present on Ruiko's face. Turning to Mii, Mikoto exclaimed in both fear and anger what was on her mind, "Did they really try this again?!"

"They tried it in a different way, Misaka-san," Mii explained, knowing full well what Mikoto was referring to without the electromaster having to say anything. With a serious look on her face, Mii continued, "From what the article revealed, they took espers to a remote location and tried to forcefully get them to level up by inhuman means. It was described as true torture that broke espers on more than one occasion. In more than one way."

"And the people behind it got away with it?!" Mikoto spat angrily, startling Mii in the process. It didn't help Mikoto's mood very much when Mii ended up nodding regrettably. Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself down, Mikoto slowly added, "I'm glad that they at least disbanded, but it would have been better if they had to pay for what they've done."

Ruiko, seeing how angry Mikoto had gotten and having seen the red warning flags, decided that it was about time that she stepped in. Ruiko had noticed something peculiar that was said in the article and wanted to confirm her theory with Mii.

"Konori-senpai said that there were espers that broke thanks to this program, right?" Ruiko asked, the words having already left her mouth before she realized her mistake. With a meek, deflated voice she added, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything…"

"Saten-san was wondering if Himura was one of the affected espers, and if being a part of the experiment was what drove her to do what she did," Mii said with a knowing smile, placing a gentle hand on Ruiko's shoulder. When she saw her junior nod, almost timidly so, Mii's smile widened, "There are no records that Himura was one of the espers who was affected by this program. And that brings us to the next problem…"

Ruiko looked up in anticipation, wondering what Mii was planning to share but it wasn't Mii who ended up saying it. Mikoto had, rudely so, grabbed the laptop and skimmed through some of the open windows before abruptly turning to Mii.

"How is that possible?" Mikoto exclaimed, demanding an answer from Mii as she turned the laptop around so the older girl could see what Mikoto was referring to. This was not necessary as Mii had already seen what Mikoto just saw, however.

"It's true, Misaka-san. According to the Anti-Skill reports, Himura is classified as a level zero," Mii explained in a calm and clear voice. Before either Mikoto or Ruiko could react to that statement, however, Mii continued, "Saten-san, you might have already heard this from Shirai-san and Uiharu-san, but there was a drug developed that could negate esper abilities. Somehow, Himura has managed to improve it to the point where it can have lasting effects on the esper."

"So Konori-senpai is saying that she just injected that drug into her victims?" Ruiko asked in shock as she turned to Mii. From her periphery, Ruiko saw that Mikoto was about to explode, so the level zero knew that she had to act fast, "But whenever Himura was taking the ability of an esper she had pinned, there was a bright flash of light. Misaka-san and Misaka-san's sister told me about that when Himura got to Shirai-san in our last fight."

"It's not impossible for her to have used something like a flash grenade right when she injected Kuroko…" Mikoto trailed off with a small frown on her face. Mii nodded slowly in agreement, showing the electromaster that that was what Mii had thought as well. Then, slowly and calculating, Mikoto continued, "And the reason why she would go so far as to do that… would be to make us fear her… wouldn't it…?"

"That's what Uiharu-san and I thought as well," Mii nodded, leaving Mikoto silent and Ruiko speechless as Mii continued talking, "And it is revolving around that theory that the cure was made. It doesn't actually bring back the ability of the affected espers, it removes the effects of the drug administered by Himura."

After Mii had finished, a short period of silence followed in which Mikoto and Ruiko tried to process everything that had just been told to them. What Mii had been saying did make a lot of sense to the girls now that they had the opportunity to sit down and think about it, but something was still bothering them. Ruiko ended up being the first to voice her concerns.

"But why go through all the effort to do all this?" Ruiko asked in confusion. What really got to her was how Mii ended up smiling widely when she finally heard Ruiko's words, "What's wrong? What did I say?"

"Saten-san, haven't you noticed?" Mii returned Ruiko's question with a question of her own, nodding silently before standing up to get something from the back. As she did, she left two very confused teenagers on the couch, one visibly more so than the other.

Ruiko didn't have any clue as to what Mii was saying about and, as a result, was left sitting there with a puzzled and lost look on her face. Mikoto, on the other hand, was busy looking through things on the computer, slowly scrolling through everything before it finally hit her.

"The Esper Acceleration Program… Himura's determination to take away espers' abilities… her continuous rambling over what Academy City is doing in the shadows…" Mikoto's eyes darted around the screen until they suddenly widened in realization. It had been so obviously in front of their eyes and they never realized it?

"Misaka-san? Did you find something?" Ruiko asked curiously as she eyed Mikoto with a look of interest. What she got, however, was not what she had expected.

"Saten-san, don't you see it?" Mikoto said in as calm of a tone as possible so as to not accidentally startle Ruiko. With a deep breath to try and regain her composure, Mikoto tried to explain, "Himura may not have been an esper to be dragged into that program, but what if she had someone important who was? And then if she found out that that person got injured badly because of that program picking out espers—"

"You would be tempted to hunt down who did it, as well as protect any other potential targets that can fall victim to the program," Mii's voice indicating her return startled both Mikoto and Ruiko before the level three sat down with them again. Mii then placed a folder in front of Mikoto and Ruiko, motioning for them to open it.

"As Misaka-san was saying, Himura had somebody important to her fall victim to this program. More specifically, it was her brother," Mii said solemnly, pausing momentarily to let her juniors process her words. With a deep sigh, Mii continued, "Himura's brother was a powerful esper, his ability being a level four cryokinesis, but he ended up being one of two espers who lost their lives in that program."

"Oh no…" Ruiko managed to breathe out, both her hands clasped in front of her mouth as her eyes had widened in horror after hearing Mii's words. After several seconds had passed and Ruiko had regained her composure, she timidly asked, "So when Himura found out, she wanted to prevent that from happening to any other esper?"

"The program only targeted espers ranging from level two up to four, they did not bother with levels zero and one," Mii explained in a harsh tone, looking somewhat angry at the moment. She soon realized her mistake, however, and quickly relaxed, "And so, in her own way, Himura went on to try and keep as many espers away from the program as possible. She must have missed it when the program itself was canceled."

This time, both Mikoto and Ruiko fell silent as Mii's words finally reached them. As weird as it may have seemed to them had Mii said this only half an hour ago, it actually started to make sense to them. How determined Himura was to take away their abilities, how unwilling to give up the girl was, and how she had no regrets doing what she did.

"But remember that just because Himura has been captured, it doesn't mean that we're all safe yet," Mii's voice brought Mikoto and Ruiko back to reality as the older girl placed one hand on the shoulder of either junior, "I don't expect Himura to have done all of this alone. There may still be other people out there who are just like her."

"We should be ready for when that day comes, right?" Ruiko asked with a smile to which Mii nodded in confirmation. Ruiko turned to look at Mikoto and both girls nodded simultaneously.

"Until that day comes, however, I think we all deserve some rest," Mii said with a yawn, stretching her arms above her head before starting to pick up her belongings, "That means both of you go back to your dorms and get some sleep; you've earned it."

Mikoto and Ruiko both stood simultaneously, bowing slightly and said their goodbyes to Mii. They both knew that they had cleared up a big mess but also that they could have only just started with the issue of ability stealing. If what Mii said was true, there could be a lot more people like Himura out there. And when they finally reveal themselves, Mikoto and Ruiko knew that they will be ready for them with the help of their friends.

But until that day comes, the two girls were more than content to get some well-deserved rest after an exhausting few days.

* * *

 **And that wraps up not only this chapter but also this story as a whole! I hope that you all enjoyed this story, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and have a very nice day! Take care, and hopefully until the next time!**


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